Every Ending Brings A New Beginning
by PJPotter
Summary: Even while grieving the Torchwood team can't resist a mystery. Especially one as ready-made as an amnesic alien landing on their doorstep. She didn't come alone, though. Can she be trusted, or is she another threat to mankind?
1. Chapter 1

The sun poured down out of a clear, liquid blue sky, and you might almost think it was high summer on such a beautiful day.

Until, that is, the blistering cold wind blew off of Cardiff Bay and across the Millennium Centre plaza. Until it caught at the tails of your coat and seeped through every tiny gap in the woolen fabric. Until it stiffened the exposed skin of your face and made it the bright red of a sunburn.

Olivia Raines stood near the Water Tower, oblivious to the comings and goings around her on Roald Dahl Plass. She was staring out over the water of the bay, but her eyes held the blank expression of someone whose thoughts are turned completely inward. When a large man in a fur-collared coat bumped into her she never even noticed, nor did she acknowledge the other's apology.

She wasn't even aware of the man that stood just twenty yards away, watching her. Jack Harkness had spent a great deal of his time over the last couple of months watching Olivia Raines. She had landed on Torchwood's doorstep almost four months ago with a vortex manipulator strapped to her arm and very little memory beyond her name and the fact that she was on planet Earth.

It hadn't taken very long for the Torchwood team to add one more fact to the short list on Olivia: she wasn't human.

That simple fact didn't bother Jack as much as it did the others. What bothered him far more was the fact that they hadn't yet been able to determine what, exactly, she was. Torchwood had the largest compiled database on alien life forms, after all. If they couldn't figure it out. . .

A chirping sound came from his pocket and he quickly pulled the mobile out. The text of a message started to scroll across the screen.

RIFT SHOWING SIGNS OF INCREASED ACTIVITY

UNIT ASKING QUESTIONS

DOCTOR JONES COMING FOR VISIT

Jack grinned at the message. The rift getting more active and a chance to see Martha? Two of his favourite things! He pressed the automatic "Acknowledge" button on the mobile and slipped it back in the pocket of his coat.

"It must be good news."

Jack started and glanced up. Olivia was still standing about twenty yards away with her back to him, yet there was no doubt that she was the person who had spoken. He took a few steps closer to her.

"You knew I was standing there?" he asked.

"I always know when you're near, Jack. Call it time agent instinct."

"And the 'good news' part?"

Olivia finally turned around and faced him. "Your mood shifted," she replied with a shrug. "Before you were dark and thoughtful, now you're light and happy."

"Is that more instinct?" Jack asked, somewhat unnerved at her accurate insights.

She grinned. "Maybe. Call it a sort of human instinct." She started walking towards him. "You being the human, of course."

"Obviously." Jack offered her an arm and she slipped hers through, threading her fingers in his. "Your hand is like ice," he said. "You must have been freezing out here."

Literally. One of the first (and biggest) clues to Olivia's non-human status was the fact that her normal body temperature was over one hundred degrees Fahrenheit. In an ordinary situation being near her was like standing beside an open oven; warmth radiated from her skin constantly. At that moment, though, she felt like a block of ice. Jack put his arm around her as she shivered.

"Come on," he said. "That's enough fresh air for today." They started walking towards the regular entrance to the Torchwood Hub.

"So, what's on the agenda for today?" she asked. "New and interesting aliens to study and catalogue?"

Jack grinned. "Nothing so exciting, I'm afraid." He pulled the mobile out of his coat and showed her the message. "I'm curious to know, however, what might be causing this latest rift activity."

"And this U.N.I.T.? And Doctor Jones? Are they curious as well?"

"Definitely," Jack replied with a rueful smile. "U.N.I.T.'s been trying to get us to join them for over a year. They keep saying. . ." His voice trailed off as Olivia abruptly stopped walking. She stood absolutely still, an expression of dismay on her face. He took her hands in his.

"What's wrong? What's the matter?"

She looked up and met Jack's eyes. "What if it's me, Jack? What if I'm somehow causing the rift activity?"

"That's possible," he said, "but not likely." He gave a tug on one of her hands and they resumed walking. "Think about it; you've been here for almost four months. If the rift was reacting to you in some way we would have seen it before this. Not to mention it's a rift is space-time; you'd have to be using the vortex manipulator in some way, or it would have to be malfunctioning, to cause the rift to start cracking."

She sighed. "You're right, I suppose. I just wish I knew something. Remembered something! It's all so bloody frustrating!"

Jack gave her hand a squeeze. "We'll figure it out. Just don't push it; you'll never force your memory."

They were almost to the entrance before Jack spoke again. "Whatever – or whoever - is going on I hope it's friendly."

****~**~**~**~**~****

"She doesn't remember anything? Not even how she ended up here, in Cardiff, on top of the rift?"

Jack shook his head. "Not a thing." He held up his left arm and pointed at his vortex manipulator. "But if she set this on Automatic and was anywhere in this sector of the universe it would have been naturally drawn to the rift. Not that that information helps us, of course."

Martha Jones stood up and started to pace the confines of Jack's office. "And she definitely has a vortex manipulator," she said. "I don't suppose it could be something else?"

"No way. I'd know."

Martha stopped pacing and leaned against one of the file cabinets. "Do you think she _was_ a time agent? Or did she get the manipulator in some other way?" She stepped forward and rested her hands on the desk. "You have instincts for this sort of thing, Jack. What do you think?"

Jack leaned back in his chair. "She was definitely a time agent at some point. She's said a few things that meant nothing to her, but I knew."

"Would an uncontrolled trip through the vortex account for the memory loss? Or do you think the agency did to her what they did to you?"

"They only wiped two years of my memories," Jack replied. "Not every last thing." He flipped some pages of the file on his desk before slapping it closed. "But to answer your other question, yes, it _could_ account for the memory loss, but there's no way of knowing for sure. As far as I know no time agent has ever used the manipulator's automatic pilot function."

"Never?" Martha asked, her eyes widening in surprise.

"Never ever. She must have been in a hell of a lot of trouble to resort to it." He met Martha's eyes. "The kind of trouble that people don't usually walk away from." He stood up. "Which is why I've kept her here. Until we have some idea of what happened to her she's better off hiding, and Torchwood is ideal for that."

Martha smiled slightly. "Is that your subtle way of telling me I'd better not share this information with my superiors?"

"You think that was subtle?"

"For you, yes." The pair moved to the other side of the office, where they could see Olivia and Ianto Jones working at one of the monitoring stations. "You trust her enough to allow her access to information, Jack?"

"Nothing classified," Jack replied with a sidelong smile. "I'm not stupid." He pushed open the office door. "Come on. Let's get to work on what brought you here."

****~**~**~**~**~****

Two hours later Martha and Jack were in the medical lab going over the most recent alien autopsies. The records were incomplete and messy, causing Martha to sigh in frustration as she tossed another file on the worktable.

"This is useless!" she burst out. "I can't do anything with this –" she said, gesturing at the mess that surrounded her and Jack. "Incomplete autopsies, no genetic scans, no DNA profiles –"

"Hardly surprising," Jack interrupted. "We've been without a medical doctor ever since Owen. . ." He didn't complete the sentence, just stood silent with his jaw clenched.

Martha immediately looked contrite. "I'm sorry, Jack. I shouldn't have. . ." She swallowed hard. "I know it's been hard on you."

"You could make it easier. Stay here. Leave U.N.I.T."

"We've had this conversation before, Jack. Please let's not have it again."

Their eyes met and held for a long moment before Jack gave a nod. He turned away and sat at the computer. "Let me show you what we have on Livvie. I'd like your opinion, if you can make anything of the situation that we haven't already considered."

Martha stepped up behind Jack and studied the screen. "Is that normal? A body temperature of 100.3?"

"Yes, as it turns out," Jack replied, pulling up another page of the electronic chart. "When she first arrived we thought she was seriously ill with an infectious disease. We ran every test we could without the help of an actual doctor, but everything came up negative. That was our first clue."

Martha stared at the screen, amazed at what they had been able to discover. "What was your second clue?" she asked.

"This." Jack pressed a button on the keyboard and the screen changed again. He pushed the chair back from the worktop slightly, allowing Martha to get closer.

"Well, I can confirm that you've been right about her. She's definitely not human." She reached out and touched the screen lightly. "But how did you get this? You haven't done any other DNA profiles."

Jack shrugged. "We made a special effort in this case. Nearly blew every computer circuit in the Hub while we were at it. Even so, it's incomplete." He gestured at the screen. "You can see the gaps."

Martha glanced quickly at Jack and then back at the monitor. "And this doesn't match up with anything in your database? Not even partially?"

Jack shook his head. "The closest we came was twenty-three per cent. Not that it helped us; it was a twenty-three per cent match to human DNA. And all that tells us is that whatever species she is is humanoid, which we can see with our own eyes."

Martha turned away from the monitor. "What about personal belongings? Did she have anything with her when she arrived besides the clothes on her back and a vortex manipulator?"

"Yeah." Jack stood and led the way into the storage area. "There were a few things in the pockets of her coat." He pulled a box off of a top shelf. "Not much, though."

Martha looked in at the pitifully small collection of objects. "That's it?"

"I let her keep her lip gloss."

Martha laughed. "Always the gentleman." She reached in to the box and shifted the items around. There was a wide leather band that she took to be an extra wrist strap for the manipulator, an elaborate pocketknife, some coins in a currency she didn't recognize, a British passport, and at the bottom. . .

She froze when she uncovered the last item. The blood rushed and pounded in her ears as she slowly reached out and lifted it, turning it over in her hand as she did so.

It was a silver fob watch, elaborately engraved on the front in an intertwined pattern of planets and suns. Martha thought her heart would stop. She held it out to Jack with shaking hands. "Recognize it?" she asked, her voice the merest whisper.

He grabbed it from her before she could accidentally drop it, turning it in his hands and examining every surface of it. "No," he replied, pressing the button and popping the cover open. "Should I?"

Martha took a deep breath. "No, you wouldn't. You never saw it, did you? Not in 1913, and Professor Yana –"

"Yana? What does he have. . ."

But Martha had snatched the watch back and was sprinting up the hallway towards the stairs that led to the Hub's main level. Jack started after her, feeling no small amount of alarm. He was accustomed to seeing Martha at her unflappable best, and her almost frightened reaction had him worried.

He caught up with her at the top of the steps. "Martha, what's wrong?" he asked, grasping her elbow.

She shook her head and met his eyes. "I need you to trust me, Jack. Because the next few minutes might get slightly surreal."

"Surreal is normal around here."

"Not like this," she said, holding up the watch. "Trust me, please." And she pushed open the door to the main room.

Olivia looked up when she heard their footsteps on the catwalk. "Jack, we have a lead on what might be causing the increased rift activity. There's a large pocket of temporal feedback just outside the city," she said, turning back to the computer station. "In Grangetown. It's weird, though, because. . ." She looked up again and saw Martha's face. "What is it? What's the matter?"

Martha held up the watch. "Olivia, where did you get this?"

Olivia looked at the watch and then back at Martha. "I. . . I don't know. I can't remember." She looked towards Jack. "They told me it was in one of my pockets when they found me, but that's all I know."

Martha held it out to the other woman. "Have you touched it since you've been here? Or opened it?"

Olivia took it. "No. As far as I know this is the first time I've ever touched it. But it feels like. . ." Her voice trailed off.

"Feels like what?" Ianto spoke for the first time, exchanging a worried glance with Jack.

"It feels like a part of me. Like it's been there my entire life."

"Open it," Martha said. All three of them looked at her, surprised at the vehemence in her voice. "Do it. Please."

Olivia glanced first at Ianto, and then at Jack. When he nodded she pressed the button and the cover flipped open. They all stood still for what felt like an hour before Martha took the watch out of Olivia's hand and snapped it closed.

"Nothing happened," she said, sounding shocked and a little bit relieved. She met Olivia's eyes. "But I was sure. . ."

Jack stepped forward and took hold of the hand that Martha held the watch in. "I think we need to talk," he said quietly. He nodded to Olivia and Ianto. "You two, go get some lunch."

When they had bundled themselves into their coats and gone to the lift Ianto looked back and met Jack's eyes. "Go," Jack mouthed. "It's OK."

When the pair had left Jack steered Martha back to his office and pushed her into a chair. He poured a measure of brandy into a glass and watched while she downed it in one gulp. "Now," he began when Martha's coughing fit subsided. "Do you want to tell me what the hell that was about?"

"The watch," Martha said, her voice rasping. "I've only ever seen two like that. With those patterns engraved on the cover." She looked up and her eyes locked with Jack's. "One of them belonged to the man we knew as Professor Yana."

Realization started to dawn and Jack felt his knees go weak. He fell back into the chair beside the one Martha occupied. "Yana. AKA The Master." He looked around the office. "Now _I_ need a shot of brandy, because you can't be thinking what I think you're thinking." He scrubbed his face with his hands. "Can you?"

"I can't think of any other explanation for how she could have one of those watches in her possession."

Jack sprang up out of the chair and moved behind his desk. "No. No. NoNoNoNoNo. She can't be!" He pushed a hand through his hair. "We may not have a medical doctor on staff, Martha, but I think we would have noticed something as obvious as more than one heart." He picked up the watch from where it sat on his desk. "Why is this so important?"

Martha explained to him what had happened the one time she had seen such a watch used. "It made him human. The perfect hiding place."

"But nothing happened when Livvie opened the watch," Jack said, snapping it open himself. "That doesn't fit your idea."

"Neither does the fact that her genetic profile is clearly non-human." Martha sighed. "It was a crazy thought, I suppose."

"But one we both wanted to be true, for his sake." Jake closed the watch and turned it in his hands, over and over. "Still, I'd love to know how she came to have this."

"Maybe she picked it up on a mission at some time," Martha suggested.

"I doubt it," Jack replied, still turning the watch in his hands. "There are very limited points in space-time where someone could come across even a small piece of Time Lord technology." He tossed the watch on the desktop. "And we have other work to be getting on with, Doctor Jones." He grinned. "Would you like to join my team on a quiet trip to Grangetown tomorrow?"

Martha smiled in return. "Cracks in the rift, pockets of temporal feedback and possible alien infiltration? You always know how to show a girl a good time, Captain."


	2. Chapter 2

_The red light was always there. It was forever and eternal. It surrounded her and penetrated her mind and soul. It absorbed everything that she was._

_Yet it was somehow not right. Not as things should be. She knew that in her heart of hearts._

_It all came to an abrupt end with screams, and gunfire, and a man that she didn't know. There was a burst of light and the rush of wind, and then. . ._

Olivia jerked awake, sweat-soaked and with her heart pounding in her ears. There was no red light anymore, just the muted blue-green glow of the computer monitors. The dream was already starting to slip away; she squeezed her eyes shut and pushed her hands in to her hair, pressing against the sides of her head. If she could hold on to the details, remember something. . .

Her eyes popped open again and she gasped out loud. That man. The man in the dream. The man with the gun. He was familiar, somehow. If only she had been able to see his face.

"Livvie?"

She sat up quickly, eyes searching the gloom. Logically she knew there was only one person who could have spoken to her, but with the adrenaline from the dream still pumping and the leftover fear heightening her senses she didn't take the time to search her intellect. She managed to keep herself from rolling off, and hiding under, her bed. Just.

Jack came into view from behind a bank of monitors. She let out a sigh of relief and willed her heart to return to its normal rhythm. He came closer and sat on the edge of her bed.

"You know," he said, leaning back against the wall. "Maybe if you talked about these dreams it might help. They might be memories."

"How do you know I have dreams?"

"I recognize the symptoms," he replied with a shrug. "So tell me."

"There isn't anything to tell. I mean, it's not like anything happens. It's just me, and this weird red light. A light that is everywhere; around me and inside of me."

"Nothing else?"

Olivia shook her head. "No. Well, this time it was a little different."

Jack sat up straight again, all of his attention on her. "Different how?"

She closed her eyes, pulling what few details she had of the dream to the front of her mind. "There was a man, with a gun. He fired it. I heard screams, and the roar of wind, and. . ."

"You woke up."

"Pretty much, yeah." She opened her eyes and met Jack's. "Like I said, nothing happens." She dropped back down onto the bed, lifted a hand and squeezed the bridge of her nose. "I get such a bloody headache when I think about it. Makes me wonder sometimes if I really want to get my memory back."

Jack stretched out his legs and then lay down alongside of Liv. "What would you do in that case? If your memory never comes back?"

"Stay here, I suppose," she said, turning her head to face Jack. "Chase after aliens."

"You are an alien," Jack said with a grin.

Olivia returned the smile. "A mere technicality, Captain. Besides, who better to chase after them, and catch them, than one of their own? Sort of like it takes a thief to catch a thief." She sighed and rolled over onto her side, away from Jack. "But I wouldn't be able to do that, would I? An alien in a group of people dedicated to fighting alien threats to humankind?" She laughed mirthlessly. "I'd never be completely trusted."

"I trust you," Jack whispered, so quiet that she almost didn't hear him.

"No, you don't. Not like you could. And for all I know it's best that you don't."

Jack put an arm around her waist and hugged her close. "We'll figure this out, you know. Even if your memory doesn't come back we'll get an answer. One way or another."

"And if that answer says that I'm a threat?"

"I'll worry about that if it happens."

****~**~**~**~**~****

The next morning found Jack, Martha, Olivia, and Gwen Cooper on the road out of Cardiff, heading for Grangetown. Ianto stayed behind at the Hub, keeping an eye of everything and monitoring the temporal feedback pockets that they were trying to track. Those pockets had developed some interesting qualities overnight, including closing up and then re-appearing in different locations. The entire disturbance was located within a fifty meter radius, though, which would (Jack hoped) make getting more information on what was going on easier.

Or as easy as it could be, under the circumstances. He and Olivia had woken up early that morning, still huddled together in her bed, and had barely spoken a word to each other since. For his part it wasn't so much the implied physical intimacy of the situation that was bothering Jack; despite his claims to the contrary he found that he was, indeed, beginning to worry about the possibility that Liv would prove to be some sort of alien threat.

He gave a quick glance in the rearview mirror. He could see where Olivia sat in the backseat, staring out the window. She had been abnormally quiet and withdrawn with everyone that morning, a fact that had caused a few concerned glances from Gwen and Ianto. She had insisted on accompanying them on the day's investigation, though.

"Jack, I've got a locational fix on that last feedback patch," Ianto's voice came over the comm speakers in the vehicle. "It's closing right now, unfortunately."

"_SHIT_!" Jack exclaimed, making Martha, Gwen and Olivia jump. "Send us the coordinates; with luck the next one that opens up will be close by."

"Sending fix now."

"Got it!" Gwen said. "We're close – less than half a mile." She consulted the tracker. "Take the next left, Jack."

The tires on the SUV squealed as they took the turn, narrowly missing another car and two pedestrians. "Christ, Jack!" Martha gasped, one hand pressed against the dashboard and the other clenched around her seatbelt. "It's no good if we die before we get to the site!"

"The GPS is acting up," Gwen said angrily. "I can't get the fix calibrated. . ."

"Right turn, two hundred meters ahead," Olivia said, surprising Jack so much he almost lost his grip on the steering wheel.

"How do you know?" he asked, quickly glancing to the backseat.

"Just trust me."

The wheel was wrenched to the right and they made the turn onto a narrow side street. "What now?" Jack asked, meeting Olivia's eyes in the rearview mirror.

"That car park, there."

Jack turned in at the entrance and broke through the lowered gate. "Why is it closed?" he asked of no one in particular.

"It was shut down almost a month ago," came the answer from Ianto. "Some sort of structural problem. It's supposed to be getting overhauled and repaired over the next year."

"Probably a good thing it's deserted," Gwen commented. "Less people in danger that way."

"We're going to start on the top level and work our way down," Jack said, taking a sharp right and heading up the ramp. "Ianto, the minute you see anything that looks like another feedback pocket opening up you let us know."

When the reached the uppermost level of the car park Jack brought the SUV to a skidding halt in the middle of the empty space. All four doors opened at the same time as they emerged into a misty drizzle. Jack and Gwen came around to the passenger side, both checking their weapons and portable tracking devices.

"Martha, you come with me. Livvie, stay with Gwen. Keep your comms open at all times. Ianto, have you got us on screen?"

"CCTV camera coming on line now," Ianto replied. "And I have location fixes on all four of you."

"Any sign of these anomalies?" Jack asked, checking his controller pad.

"No, but I've been running a variety of checks on everything for the last twenty-four hours," Ianto said, and they could hear computer keys clicking through the comm devices. "The temporal feedback pockets are opening on a fairly regular basis – between seven and ten minutes apart. So it shouldn't take long for something to happen."

"Right then," Jack said, pushing his revolver into its holster. "Let's go."

Gwen and Olivia set off in the opposite direction from Jack and Martha. The misty drizzle turned into a light rain, prompting Gwen to grin and say "Ahhhhh, Wales! I do love my homeland so!"

Olivia smiled slightly in response. "I suppose if I could remember mine I might feel the same way." She glanced at Gwen, immediately noticing the contrite expression on the other woman's face. "And please don't apologize! I know you were just trying to lighten my mood."

"You do seem excessively gloomy today," Gwen said. "And you haven't said ten words to Jack."

"Probably because I said a few too many words to him last night," Olivia said, squatting to examine a small pile of debris. "Plain old glass," she said, standing up and dropping a piece at her feet.

"What happened last night?" Gwen asked.

In as few words as possible Olivia told her about her dream and the conversation she had with Jack. "And I can see it in his eyes," she continued. "He's thinking about it, even though he said he wouldn't unless it actually happened. He's worried now."

Gwen looked over her shoulder towards where they could see Jack and Martha. "Maybe," she said, turning back to Liv and smiling. "But you're here, with us, right now. So even if he is starting to worry he still trusts you enough to let you be a part of this search."

"Or he doesn't trust me enough to leave me alone at the Hub."

"Stop it!" Gwen said. "That's ridiculous and you know it. You're no more a threat to mankind than I am!"

"Gwen, I'm an alien! I'm not human! That fact has got to be faced, and the sooner –"

"Jack, there's a temporal anomaly starting in your area," Ianto's voice came over the comms, interrupting Olivia. "It's different from the others. I'm trying to pin down its location right now."

"Even a hint would be nice, Ianto," Jack said as he and Martha ran up to Olivia and Gwen. All four of them were nervously looking around; Gwen had pulled her gun and held it loosely at her side.

"I don't see anything," she said turning a full three hundred and sixty degrees.

"I've got a fix on it!" Ianto said excitedly. "It's right where the four of you are now."

"Ianto, there's nothing here," Martha said. "Nothing."

"There's got to be! Wait. . . Hold on. . ."

"It's below us."

Jack, Gwen and Martha all looked at Olivia. She was standing absolutely still; her eyes were closed and her hands held out, palms down. She looked as if she were in some sort of trance, sensing things that weren't visible to the eye. "It's below us," she repeated before opening her eyes and then sprinting towards the stairs in the far corner of the lot.

"Olivia, WAIT!" Gwen called out before running after her, Jack and Martha in pursuit.

"Jack, whatever that anomaly is it's a level beneath where you are now."

"Yeah, Ianto, we got that," Jack replied, huffing slightly as he ran. "Anything else?"

"Well, I think it's behaving differently from most of the others we tracked because something is coming through."

"Great," Jack muttered. "Just great." He had over-taken Gwen by that time and slammed through the door at the top of the stairwell. He took a quick look down and spotted Olivia as she pulled open the door and entered the lower floor. He went down the steps two at a time, yanked open the door, and nearly ran over Olivia, who had stopped barely three feet into the empty space. He grabbed onto her shoulders to steady himself and prevent her from falling.

And saw what had brought her to such an abrupt stop.

It was a large globe, of sorts, that appeared to be made of yellow and blue lights that swirled around each other and occasionally collided in bursts of green. But what made it worse was the figure that, even as they watched, was materializing inside the globe. It looked human, but the large wings sprouting from its shoulders were a definite indication that all was not as it seemed.

"Bloody hell!" Martha exclaimed as she came up behind Jack and Olivia, breathing heavily. As they watched the blue, yellow, and green lights started to fade and the globe closed, leaving the strange figure to gently fold its wings before turning to face the four of them. Olivia had retreated back into a trance-like state; Martha and Gwen each took hold of one of her arms to prevent her from running off again.

Jack took a step forward, his revolver drawn and held loosely at his side. "Have you seen it before?" Gwen asked. He shook his head and motioned for the three of them to stay back as he took another step, and then another. His footsteps echoed loudly in the empty expanse. He tapped a button on his comm.

"Ianto, what are you reading there?"

"Temporal anomaly has closed, but something definitely came through," Ianto replied. "I can't tell what it is, though. I'd recommend caution."

"Best idea I've heard all day," Martha commented, glancing nervously at the unknown alien that faced them.

The creature's eyes opened.

Martha and Gwen both gasped; Jack took a step back and bit down on a curse. The alien's eyes were orange; a fiery colour that was visible at a distance. They were all stunned at the sight, but not as much as they were when it began walking towards them. Jack took another step backwards, closer to his three companions, before he raised his gun.

"You come no closer," he said. When the alien stopped Jack nodded. "O.K., that's one question answered," he said. "You understand what I'm saying. So, what do you want here?"

The creature turned its flaming eyes to Jack. "You are unimportant," it said, the voice deep and with an odd, musical quality. "We want nothing to do with your kind."

"Our kind?" Jack asked. He glanced quickly over his shoulder at Olivia. "Do you mean humans? If you don't want anything to do with humans why did you come to Earth?"

"We followed a trail through space and time. We need the one who made it."

Jack fought against the urge to glance again at Olivia. He was vividly remembering their conversation of the previous day, when he had said he believed that the recent rift activity had nothing to do with her. Seems he was being proved wrong. But what the alien was saying made sense in another way; obviously they had been testing a form of time travel, but until this moment they had only been able to follow Olivia's trail. Now they had been able to send someone through, and they were after her.

Even while his thoughts were racing down that path Jack noticed that their new alien acquaintance had moved his gaze and was now staring steadily at Olivia. Recognizing that it was useless to try and keep her a secret he said "What do you want with her? What is it you think she can do for you?"

The creature cocked its head to one side as if considering its answer. "We have acquired the ability to travel in time, but can not control it. We need one who can."

Jack's instincts told him that the creature was telling him the truth, but also that this was more complicated than a few classes on the intricacies of time travel. "You want her to teach you?" he asked, hoping that just this once his instincts would be proven wrong.

The alien smiled, revealing an impressive collection of pointed teeth. Jack stepped back, nervously gripping his pistol. ""What do you want with her?" he asked again.

The creature's eyes began to glow brighter. "We want to assimilate her."

Jack heard a gasp from behind him and couldn't keep from taking a quick look. Olivia had woken from her trance state, shaken off Gwen's and Martha's holds on her, and had taken a step forward. She stared at the unknown alien, transfixed by the powerful eyes. She took another step forward until she was standing at Jack's side; he was amazed at how unafraid she appeared to be, until he saw how tightly her fists were clenched at her sides. He moved until he was standing partway in front of her, blocking her from the alien's sight.

"The only way you'll be assimilating anything on this planet is over my dead body," he said, his voice low and full of menace. "Livvie, get the keys out of my pocket and give them to Gwen," he instructed, never taking his eyes or his gun off of the creature. When he heard Gwen's rapid footsteps fading he knew that she had understood his unspoken command and gone to fetch the SUV.

"Jack, what do they mean by 'assimilate'?" Martha asked.

"Nothing good, I guarantee it," he responded, just as they all heard the engine of the SUV coming closer. The alien turned to watch its approach for a moment before returning its attention to Jack, Olivia, and Martha.

"Over your dead body," it said, smiling again. "Your death will not be necessary, Captain Jack Harkness. But neither will it be regretted." It suddenly spread its wings and lifted off from the ground just as Gwen brought the SUV to a halt behind it. She got out of the vehicle and joined the others as they watched it fly off.

"What the hell is it?" Gwen asked, shading her eyes to follow the creature, now just a barely discernible dot on the horizon.

"More importantly," Martha said, taking Jack's arm and spinning him round to face her. "How the hell does it know you?"


	3. Chapter 3

The CCTV footage was very grainy, but clear enough to show all the details of their alien encounter in Grangetown. They watched it all the way through twice. The third time Ianto paused the playback on the moment when the creature opened its eyes. They all sat in silence, staring at that luminescent orange glow.

"It's a Krillitane."

Jack, Gwen, Ianto and Martha all turned their heads and stared at Olivia. She smiled wryly. "Please don't ask me how I know that, because I'll tell you right here and now that I have no idea where this knowledge is coming from." She looked squarely at Jack. "You'll have to trust me."

Jack studied her for a moment before giving a quick nod. "So enlighten us," he said. "What, exactly, is a Krillitane?"

"Other than a scary alien with enormous bat wings and glowing orange eyes," Ianto said, earning a laugh and helping everyone to relax.

"Krillitanes are conquerors," Olivia began, nervously turning a pen in her hand. "They're famous for prowling the universe looking for diseased societies; ancient societies that are corrupt and collapsing from within, or new, young, not-yet-mature ones –"

"Easy prey."

Everyone looked at Jack. "Just like a good predator. Go for the young, the old, and the ill," he said, standing up and starting to pace the room. "I'm going to guess that they're pretty successful at what they do," he concluded, meeting Olivia's eyes.

She nodded. "Very successful. But. . ." Her voice trailed off and the nervous pen turning slowed and then stopped.

"But what?" Martha asked.

Olivia shook herself out of her thoughts. "Krillitanes aren't after planets or star systems. They don't conquer worlds, just people. Societies, like I said. And then they assimilate them."

"That's what that Krillitane in the car park said," Gwen commented. "He used that word, exactly. What did it mean?"

"The Krillitane specialty is assimilating the populations that they conquer. And it's not just languages, customs, and mores." Olivia took a deep breath and pressed her hands down on the tabletop. "They assimilate physical characteristics."

Jack sucked in a breath and Gwen and Ianto exchanged a confused look. "Surely that's normal?" Gwen asked, her gaze moving between Olivia and Jack. "If they breed with a subjugated population certain physical characteristics will come to be shared."

"This isn't about breeding, Gwen," Jack said, scrubbing his face with one hand. "It's a bit more. . . direct."

"Krillitanes kill and then immediately take on physical attributes of the species they've eliminated," Olivia said. "That's where the humanoid form comes from, and the wings, and those eyes."

"And now," Jack said, cutting right to the point. "They have the ability to create temporal feedback pockets. Create, but not control." He studied Olivia for a time. "Why you? Why do they think assimilating you will give them the control that they currently lack?"

"I wish I knew."

****~**~**~**~**~****

"So," Martha said, pausing to take a sip of her drink. "Do you still think my theory from last night is completely crazy?"

"I didn't think it was completely crazy. Just extremely implausible and highly unlikely."

"Wait a minute," Gwen said, pulling out a chair and sitting between Jack and Martha. "What theory?"

Martha told Gwen the entire thing, beginning with the watch and her experiences in 1913, right up to finding a similar watch in Olivia's belongings. Jack was silent the entire time, his eyes moving back and forth between Martha and Gwen. They were seated at a corner table in one of the local pubs, which was empty at that time of day except for them and the barman. When Martha reached the point in her narrative where Olivia had opened the watch he decided it was time to interject.

"And nothing happened," he said, taking a swallow of his water and staring at Martha. "Olivia opened the watch, and nothing happened. No memories came out, no personality, no nothing. Which even you had to admit put a rather large hole in your idea."

"So you thought that Olivia might be like your friend?" Gwen asked, sounding surprised and intrigued at the same time. "You thought she might be. . ."

"A Time Lord," Jack said, banging his glass down on the table. "Let's just say the words and get on with it. Martha thought that Olivia might – MIGHT – be like The Doctor."

"Well and why not?" Gwen asked. "Knowing that Olivia is not human, and with the same sort of watch in her possession, it seems natural that such a theory would occur to her."

"OK, I grant that much," Jack said. "But there are some pretty big obstacles to that theory being true."

"Such as?"

"One, Olivia has only one heart, which would make sense if her DNA and physiology had been re-written by that Chameleon Arch that Martha talked about. Had that been the case, however, she also would have registered as human on every test and scan we did on her. Two. . ." Jack stopped for a moment of thought. "OK, that first one was two arguments wrapped up in one, so three –" he held up his hand with three fingers extended – "her high body temperature. That is the exact opposite of a Gallifreyan, who, as far as I know, would normally have a body temperature substantially _below_ that of a human."

"But what about today, Jack?" Gwen asked, apparently warming to the idea. "She had some sort of sixth sense about that temporal anomaly; she knew where it was before our instruments could get a solid fix on it. She must have a natural affinity to changes in the temporal field."

Jack rolled his eyes. "That doesn't automatically equal a Time Lord! I can name a dozen species off the top of my head that have such an 'affinity', to use your word."

"Do all of those species have those damned watches?" Martha asked.

"No, but they all have large populations, unlike the Time Lords, who have a population of. . . Oh, let me think – ONE!"

Gwen and Martha exchanged a glance, clearly in agreement that Jack was being far too stubborn. He exhaled with a huff. "Listen, you two," he began. "This isn't about any of us being stubborn. It's about considering the question logically. And logically there are more things that argue against it that argue for it."

"And before The Master put in his appearance none of us, including The Doctor, would have _logically _believed that another Time Lord existed!" Martha exclaimed. "Besides, how in the hell do you apply logic when you're dealing with things like vortex manipulators, temporal feedback, TARDISes, rifts in space and time, and paradox machines?"

"And the physiological differences aren't a very strong argument against, Jack," Gwen put in. "Maybe the simple fact that Olivia is female would account for those; it wouldn't be the first time we've seen that kind of difference between males and females of the same species. Besides, what does anyone really know about the Time Lords, anyway? Only what The Doctor has seen fit to tell people." She looked up and saw Jack staring off into space, lost in thought and not listening. "Jack?!"

Jack shook himself and mentally came back to the pub. He looked from Gwen to Martha. "What if she didn't, or _couldn't_, use the watch? What if something else, something bigger, interfered in the connection between Olivia and the watch?"

Martha looked surprised. "What, you've come around to the idea now? Why the sudden change of heart?"

Jack pointed at her. "You mentioned it – the paradox machine. I didn't make the connection before, but now. . ."

"What does that have to do with this?" Martha asked.

"What the bloody hell is a paradox machine?" Gwen asked at the same time.

Jack met Gwen's eyes. "Time paradoxes happen all the time, on a small scale. That's what déjà vu is. But a large-scale, enormous time paradox –"

"Like millions of people existing at two different points in space and time simultaneously," Martha added.

Jack acknowledged her with a nod. "That is dangerous. That kind of time paradox can rip a hole in reality and destroy the entire universe. A paradox machine captures that energy and holds it in check. Destroy the paradox machine. . ."

"And you destroy the universe," Gwen breathed, eyes widening.

"Unless," Jack said, a smile beginning to lift the corners of his mouth. "The paradox machine is made from another, even more powerful, machine - one that is capable of manipulating and transforming space and time. Destroy _that_ paradox machine and all you'll get is time reversing itself to a point just moments before the paradox begins."

"Can you answer my question now, Jack?" Martha said. "What does the paradox machine have to do with our current situation?"

Jack sighed. "Last night Olivia and I had a talk about a recurring dream that she has. A dream in which she exists sort of outside of time and space, surrounded by red light." He met Martha's eyes.

"The paradox machine was full of red light," Martha commented softly. "But what. . ." Her voice trailed off and she looked puzzled for a moment. Then her jaw dropped as comprehension hit. She gasped. "You think that Olivia – her memories and her essence as a Time Lord – is inside the TARDIS?"

"If we want to assume that she is, in fact, a Time Lord, than yes," Jack replied, leaning back in his chair. "It would account for the differences we've observed; if something interfered with the Chameleon Arch it wouldn't have been able to completely change and re-write her DNA. So she registers on all of our tests as non-human, but doesn't retain enough of a Time Lord to confirm that."

"Would this be causing her amnesia?" Gwen asked.

"No," Martha replied with an emphatic shake of her head. "If this was all there was to it she would still have an entire lifetime's worth of memories for the persona of Olivia Raines. Her almost complete memory loss is something else entirely."

"And not so complete anymore," Jack said with a lift of an eyebrow. "Which brings us right up to our current problem."

"The Krillitane," Gwen supplied.

"Yes. Specifically what does he want with Olivia and how the hell do we stop him. Or them, if more start showing up."

"I think we can take as a given that more will appear, Jack," Martha said. "They always do."

"It's also pretty obvious what they want with Olivia," Gwen added. "Our acquaintance didn't exactly hide his intentions." She took a sip from her pint. "So, they want her because they somehow know that she has the natural ability to manipulate and control time and space, and they need to assimilate that."

"I wonder if they suspect just how much ability she has," Martha mused. "Could they know that she might actually be a Time Lord?"

"_We_ don't even know if she's a Time Lord," Jack said. "Not for sure, at any rate. It's still all just speculation, remember?"

"Why don't you just call him? The Doctor, I mean." Gwen turned to Martha. "He still has that mobile you gave him, doesn't he? And we still have the number back at the Hub. Get him here and we could solve all three problems at once; we find out exactly what species Olivia is, get her memories back, and stop whatever the Krillitanes are up to."

"I don't think we need to call him," Jack said, taking a last swallow of his water and standing up. "We've had a lot of rift activity and all of that temporal feedback recently. If I know him he's already on his way here."

****~**~**~**~**~****

"You look like you could use this," Ianto said, holding out a bottle of beer.

Olivia started and looked up. She had been sitting in the boardroom of the Hub, staring at the frozen image of a Krillitane on the monitor for what seemed like hours. Now she smiled, took the bottle from Ianto and took a long drink.

"Thanks," she said. "You were right, I did need this." She took another swallow. "I've developed and almost human liking for this beverage."

Ianto grinned before taking the seat beside her. "You've been staring at that for an awfully long time," he said, nodding towards the monitor. "Why are you tormenting yourself?"

"Tormenting myself? Why do you say that?"

"It can't be pleasant, looking at that while knowing what he intends for you."

"Maybe not, but I can't stop," Olivia replied. "Something about that –" she pointed at the image "- triggered memories. They weren't memories about me, personally, but it was something. I need to keep trying; something I know might be the key to stopping them."

"And it might also be giving them exactly what they want," Ianto said, a worried frown creasing his forehead. "Maybe you should lay low and let us figure this out."

Olivia shook her head. "Would you do that? Lay low and let other people take the risks? Knowing that you could help?"

"No, I suppose I wouldn't."

Olivia took another sip of beer and returned her gaze to the monitor. "Why do they think assimilating me would help them control their time-travel? What the hell am I?"

Ianto put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed lightly. "Don't think about any of that, because I'm telling you right now that's not going to happen. We won't allow it." He released her shoulder, stood, and moved until he was standing just inches aware from the picture. "Anyway, I'd be more interested in finding out how and when they acquired the ability to manipulate temporal fields. That might be the key to stopping them."

"I can't help with the when, but the how is easy," Olivia said, standing at his side. "There are at least a dozen species across the universe that possess some sort of natural gift for playing with time." She grinned, but it had a sardonic twist. "I wish I could remember the names of a few of them."

"No need," Ianto said, taking the bottle of beer from her before taking her hand and leading her to the main computer bank. "Just knowing that such species exist is a good enough place to start a search."

An hour later Olivia threw up her hands in frustration. "There's nothing here! Not in Torchwood's records and the only reference to a time traveling species in the U.N.I.T. files is an obscure mention of someone called The Doctor. No name, just The Doctor. Fat lot of good that is."

"Too bad he's not here, though," Ianto said. "We could use all the help we can get."

"You know him?"

"We've met. Briefly. But now this. . ." His fingers flew over the keyboard, calling up files. "This is very interesting."

"What is it?" Olivia asked, moving to stand behind Ianto.

"A report filed with U.N.I.T. by a Sarah Jane Smith. It details an encounter with the Krillitanes." He hit another key and a new file opened up. "It was over three years ago."

"So they've been to Earth before?"

Ianto nodded. "And no mention of time travel anywhere. So whatever they do to gain that ability I'm guessing happens sometime in the future."

"But why travel here, to Earth, at this point in its history?"

"They didn't," Ianto said. "Not intentionally. What was it that Krillitane said about how they arrived here?"

Comprehension dawned and lit up Olivia's face. "He said they followed a trail through time and space. A trail made by me." She lifted her left arm and looked at the vortex manipulator. "Or a trail made by this. Maybe that's all they need! If I give them this then they won't have to 'assimilate' me at all!" She looked up and saw the expression on Ianto's face. "No, I can't do that can I? A species that's famous for its wars and conquests with the ability to travel anywhere in time and space? We can't let that loose."

"No, we can't."

"But how do we stop them? It'd be next to impossible to travel into the future and prevent them from assimilating whatever species it is. We'd need an entire army, and even with that there's no guarantee we'd hit the right place in space and time. Not without knowing exactly who and what we're dealing with."

Ianto turned back to the computer. "Maybe we've been approaching this the wrong way. We've been searching for any record of species that are known to travel in time. Maybe we should run a broader search."

"Try searching for records and reports on any and all time travel technology," Olivia suggested, her enthusiasm reborn. "If we find something then we can backtrack and hopefully get a list of possible suspects."

"A 'list of possible suspects'?" Ianto laughed. "Been reading mystery novels, have you? They're making you sound more and more human."

"It's your fault, you know," she replied, poking him in the shoulder. "You suggested I read those books by Agatha Christie and Margery Allingham."

"I wouldn't have suggested it if I had known what it would do to you." He typed for a few moments, opening and closing files, then sighed. "This doesn't help us very much either. All I can find is this record –" he indicated the screen "- on the design and development of the Vortex Manipulator. And it's not very detailed; seems nobody even knows who created the Manipulator or why."

"That's disappointing," Olivia said, frowning. "Anything else?"

"Just some dates and a few facts about how the development of the Vortex Manipulator was closely linked to the establishment of the Time Agency." Ianto hit the _Print Screen_ key to generate hard copies of everything before turning to face Olivia. "I don't suppose mentioning the Time Agency triggers any great surge of memory?"

"No, sorry." The alarms and flashing lights started to go off as the main entrance opened up. Olivia smiled as Jack, Gwen and Martha arrived. "We can always ask, Jack, I suppose."

"Ask me what?"

The question was barely out of Jack's mouth before another, more worrisome alarm started to go off. All of the computer screens started flashing _Perimeter Alert_ as Gwen, Ianto and Jack all dove for terminals.

"Whatever it is it's inside the perception screen," Gwen said, raising her voice to be heard over the claxon.

"On the lift?" Jack asked, spinning around to face her. When she nodded he crossed to where Ianto had stationed himself. "Get me the CCTV on the plaza. Quick!"

"Got it!" Ianto exclaimed as an image of Roald Dahl Plass flashed on his screen. He changed the view to a different camera and then used the keyboard to pan to the left, stopping when the base of the Water Tower came into view and they could see what had gotten inside the perception filter.

Jack grinned and turned to Gwen. "I told you he'd be here."


	4. Chapter 4

"And you have absolutely no idea who she is, what she is, where she came from, or why she's on Earth?"

"None," Jack replied. "But then neither does she, so I'd say we're even."

Martha looked down to where her hands were folded in her lap, trying to keep her grin hidden. She knew that neither of them would appreciate why she found their sparring so amusing. Once she got her mirth under control she lifted her head and stepped in to defuse the situation.

"Well, now that we've established just how little all of us know," she said, holding up a hand to prevent interruptions, "I would suggest we focus on the immediate concern."

"That being time-traveling Krillitanes, right?" The Doctor stood and began pacing Jack's office. "This has so much potential to go wrong in so many ways." He pushed a hand through his hair and turned to Jack. "What, exactly, do you know for sure about this?"

Jack pulled a file closer; it contained printouts of all of the information that Ianto and Olivia had been able to find. It was pitifully thin.

"We've got a copy of a report filed with U.N.I.T. of an encounter with some Krillitanes a couple of years ago." He met the Doctor's eyes. "It was filed by Sarah Jane, so I'm guessing you know what happened then?" When the Doctor nodded he continued. "That report makes it pretty clear that there was no time travel involved, so it's a pretty good guess that whatever happens is in the future from this point."

"So we know when," Martha chimed in. "We just have to figure out who. What species did the Krillitanes assimilate?"

The Doctor took the file from Jack and flipped through the meager pages. He sat in one of the chairs before Jack's desk and leaned his elbows on the top. "Now this could be significant," he said, holding up one page.

Jack glanced at the piece of paper. "How can that be significant? It doesn't tell us who by or on what planet the Vortex Manipulator was developed. And _I_ could have told you about the tie-in with the founding of the Time Agency."

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "You're forgetting who you're dealing with, Jack." He grinned. "This report may not know who by or on what planet, but I do." When both Martha and Jack turned their full attention to him he continued. "Bellam Laskor, a resident of Tangellos 5."

Jack simply stared at the Doctor for a moment before a wide grin spread across his face and he surged out of his chair. "IANTO!" he shouted as he left the office and moved into the main room. "I need you to run a search and find me anything – ANYTHING – on the Tangellos system. Google it if you have to, but find me something." He turned to where Olivia sat and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Livvie, I hate to do this to you, but get down to the archives and do the same search by hand."

Olivia smiled and set off for the storage area just as the security gates opened and Gwen returned with enough pizza to feed an army and her husband Rhys. He took one of the pizza boxes, grabbed a couple of beers, and followed Olivia down to where the old, handwritten records were stored.

"They're very efficient, Jack," the Doctor commented as everyone scattered to their appointed tasks.

"It's what we do," Jack replied curtly, turning away and heading back to his office. "And we do it well."

Martha watched Jack walk away before turning to follow the Doctor to the Tardis, now inside the Hub. She caught up with him as he was pulling the door open and took hold of his arm, none too gently. "You can be such a jerk at times, do you know that?" she said, not bothering to keep the anger out of her voice.

"What are you talking about?"

Martha sighed angrily. "I'm talking about 'They're very efficient, Jack.'. That lovely way you have of combining a back-handed compliment with the worst sort of condescension."

"They are efficient!" the Doctor exclaimed as he entered the Tardis with Martha following.

"They're more than that, but you won't see it. I can't decide if it's your usual habit of viewing the human race as somewhat less than intelligent or your bias against Torchwood that's causing it, but you've been a right bastard since you arrived." Martha paused, trying to calm her angry breathing. "Pointing out the obvious as if none of us has the brains to see it. I'm surprised Jack has kept his temper so well. Or haven't you noticed that he's not quite himself?"

"He seems the same to me."

Martha threw her hands up in disgust. "I give up. Honestly. I know that you sometimes can't be bothered to remember certain social mores or conventions, but when you don't even notice that a friend is grieving?" She turned and started to leave the ship. "There's not a whole lot I can do with that."

"What do you mean grieving?"

Martha sighed, feeling all of her anger drain away. "I mean grieving. Mourning. The three of them. They lost two members of the team not that long ago. Two colleagues. Two friends. And before they had a chance to deal with it they're fighting Daleks and helping to save the entire universe, and then Olivia lands on their doorstep, and none of them have had a chance to come to terms with it yet."

"How do you know all of this?" the Doctor asked, his attention fully on her for the first time.

"Because I know them," Martha replied. "And I knew the two people they lost." She looked away, blinking rapidly to hold back the tears that were stinging her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Martha. I didn't realize."

She laughed weakly. "Just be honest and say you didn't notice," she said. "I'd feel a bit better then."

"Fair enough," he said with a slight smile. "I'll even apologize to Jack if you think I should."

Martha shook her head. "No, there's no need. Just. . ." She took a deep breath. "Just keep it in mind when dealing with him, ok?"

"I can do that," the Doctor said, walking around the Tardis' console and powering up the scanner. He glanced back at Martha. "I was just going to dig up all the information I have on the Tangellos system? Did you want to stay and see?"

"No, I think I'll ask Jack what he needs me to do." She started towards the door before turning back for a moment. "I don't really think you're a jerk, you know. But you sure know how to act the part at times!"

The Doctor simply grinned in reply as she walked out and pulled the door to.

With the door closed Martha leaned back against it and inhaled deeply, trying to calm her rioting emotions. There was no one in the universe who could get her riled up quite like the Doctor could; she had long ago admitted that to herself. But she hadn't expected to be so effected simply by talking about the deaths of Owen and Toshiko. It made her wonder how much harder all of this was for Jack, Gwen, and Ianto, who were truly struggling to find chances to grieve.

"So, did you read him the riot act?"

"What makes you think that's why I went after him?" Martha asked, turning her head and meeting Jack's eyes.

"Because you always were the best at telling him off for his occasional outbursts of insensitive jerk," Jack replied as he turned and lead the way back to his office. "I always had to fight the urge to throttle him."

Martha laughed as she took what was becoming her accustomed seat across from Jack. "I just thought he should know a few things about the current situation," she said. "Just enough to prevent any blunders that might genuinely hurt someone."

"Thank you," Jack said, his expression serious. "Thank you from all of us."

"It was partly selfish, you know," Martha said. "Until I had to say something to the Doctor I hadn't realized how much I was hurting also. I'd prefer to not have to deal with reminders. At least not until we've gotten through our latest crisis!"

"Jack, we've found something!"

Jack and Martha both sprang out of their chairs at Gwen's call and ran to the workstation that she and Ianto were at. The monitor was flashing a series of images and some printed pages in a disconcerting jumble.

"What've you got?" Jack asked as Olivia and Rhys arrived, arms full of old, musty file folders.

"We found a few things," Rhys said, dumping a pile of folders onto a nearby couch and wiping the dust off of his clothes. "You really need to think about cleaning up down there a bit."

"I'll add that to the list," Jack replied, rolling his eyes and making Rhys laugh. "Just tell me what you found."

"Besides the fact that there are more records under the letter T than anywhere else?" Rhys asked. "Talk about an impossible job."

"Impossible until Rhys found this," Olivia put in, holding up the thinnest folder from the stack she was still carrying. "I think someone got bored in the 1960's, after the record-keeping went to computers, because we found at least a dozen similar files."

"Found what, exactly?" Jack asked, impatience coloring his voice.

Olivia grinned. "It's an index, of sorts, cross-referencing every file in the archives in which the phrase 'time travel' is mentioned. It made our search quite a bit easier."

"But what about the Tangellos system?"

"I was getting to that. Just about half of the records that have the phrase 'time travel' also mention Tangellos or Tangellon. The first report we found in which both are mentioned is from 1897."

"So in its history Torchwood has had quite a few encounters with aliens from this Tangellos system," Gwen said.

"Or encounters with people who've had encounters with Tangellons," the Doctor said with a shrug as he joined them. "But even second-hand information is better than no information at all."

"She hasn't mentioned the best part yet," Rhys said, nudging Olivia. "Go on!"

"It's not that big a deal," Olivia protested. "But all things considered I think it's significant."

"What is?" Jack asked.

"Well, I said that just about half of the time travel records include Tangellos or Tangellon, right?" When everyone nodded she continued. "We back-tracked and cross-referenced the cross references, and discovered that _every_ record of Tangellos or Tangellon mentions time travel somewhere."

"So they're linked," Martha said, sounding excited. "That's part of the connection we've been looking for."

"We may have the rest of it," Ianto commented, exchanging a glance with Gwen before turning back to his workstation and calling up files on the monitor. "We didn't find anything in the computer files until. . ." He looked sheepishly at Jack. "You told me to Google it if need be, and that's when we found something."

Everyone crowded around the workstation to look at what came up on the screen.

"It's the website of an American UFO watchers club," Ianto explained as he cycled through the pages. "They have an area of the site for members to post blog reports of alien encounters. This one –" He clicked on a link. "- is particularly interesting. It was written by a gentleman in Montana who claims to have been in regular contact over the last ten years with an alien from the Tangellos system."

"How does he know this alien is from that system?" Rhys asked, scoffing. "Do these Tangellons speak perfect English?"

"Under normal circumstances I'd agree it sounds ridiculous," Ianto replied. "But this," he scrolled down the page to where a photo was included, "was enough to convince me." He clicked once on the photo and it enlarged, filling the page with the image of what appeared to be an ordinary person.

Except this person had brilliant, fiery orange eyes.

****~**~**~**~**~****

"So now we just need to decide what we're going to do about our time traveling Krillitanes."

Jack nodded. "Any ideas would be appreciated," he said, glancing from Martha to the Doctor.

The three of them sat in the conference room, studying two photos on the monitor. One was of the Tangellon that Ianto had found via Google and the other of the Krillitane they had encountered earlier that morning. The two pairs of orange eyes glowed eerily in the partial darkness of the room.

"Why can't we just leave it alone?" Martha asked. "If they can't control their ability to time travel then they can't really be a threat, right?"

"We can't leave it alone," the Doctor began, "because eventually they will find, assimilate, or develop that control."

"Not to mention the fact that right now their sights are set on assimilating Olivia," Jack added. "For whatever reason."

"I think their reason is pretty clear, Jack. They think she can provide them with the control they currently lack. But why?"

They both looked at the Doctor for a minute before Martha shrugged. "Who knows?" she said. "But Jack did mention that he knew of at least a dozen species that possess some natural gift for manipulating space and time. I suppose now we can add the peoples of the Tangellos system to that list." She paused and thought for a minute. "Is it possible that Olivia is Tangellon?"

The Doctor shook his head. "Besides the obvious fact of if she were Tangellon the Krillitanes would hardly be looking to assimilate her –"

"Once is enough," Jack interjected.

" – there is also the fact that Tangellons have a four chambered stomach, similar to a cow. I think that fact would have come up somewhere in all of your medical tests."

"She has green eyes."

Martha and the Doctor both looked at Jack, confused. "Her eyes are green, not orange," he explained. "Given that bright orange eyes seem to be an identifying feature I think we can safely say that Olivia is _not_ a Tangellon."

"So where does that leave us?" Martha asked.

"On square one," the Doctor answered with a grin. "Always the best place to start from." He glanced at Jack. "I'd like to run some tests on Olivia myself; see if maybe I can find out some things that you might have missed."

Jack though for a moment before giving an emphatic shake of his head. "No. Our priority now needs to be figuring out a way to stop the Krillitanes. We can worry about why they've targeted her later."

"But what if knowing Olivia's species is the key to stopping them?" Martha asked.

"It's not," Jack replied, standing up. "We know that they have a limited ability to travel in time and space, and that's all we need. _That_ is what we need to stop."

"I agree with Martha," the Doctor said. "I think determining who and what Olivia is will bring us a step closer to knowing _how_ we can stop the Krillitanes. I just need a blood sample that I can do a multi-species DNA and spectral analysis of."

"I said no."

Martha started at the vehemence in Jack's voice, but the Doctor barely noticed. "A hair sample would be useful too, since certain species have very unique follicle structure and different proteins that make up the hair –"

"Have you forgotten what no means?" Jack shouted. He immediately seemed embarrassed by his outburst, though, and moderated his voice. "You once told me that you felt responsible for my actions while I was traveling with you," he continued, his attention all on the Doctor. "This time you are with me, on my territory, and I feel responsible for you. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

The Doctor nodded, although he still looked dubious. "We'll do things your way, Jack." He stood up and moved toward the door. "I have a couple of ideas," he continued as the door opened, "but I need the Tardis to test their feasibility. If you need me that's where I'll be."

Once he left Martha and Jack sat together in an uncomfortable silence. Neither seemed willing to speak; Jack because he still felt slightly ashamed of himself and Martha because she was still shocked at the rather heated disagreement. When she cleared her throat Jack looked up at her, expectant.

"Why didn't you tell him?" she asked.

Jack knew exactly what she meant. "It's your theory. Why didn't _you_ tell him?"

Martha grinned. "Same reason as you, I imagine. Not wanting to look like a complete idiot when it turns out to not be the case."

Jack leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. "So, are you backing down on the idea now?" he asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Not at all."

"Just headging your bets?"

"You could say that," Martha replied with an arch look that immediately collapsed as she started laughing. She sobered rather quickly though, and finally mentioned what was really on her mind. "You were rather vehement with him, you know," she said.

"Jack sighed. "I know. I suppose I could have been nicer about it, but he does need to understand that inside Torchwood I don't take orders, I give them. I appreciate any help he can give us, but it needs to be on my terms. Is it wrong to feel that way?"

Martha thought for a moment before shaking her head. "I don't think it's wrong. I guess the Doctor just gets so used to people accepting what he says without question that he forgets the rest of us actually have brains and intelligence. Besides, you and I are both in this business of protecting the human race full time. Even without his help we'd still have to do something; I think he doesn't consider that."

"So you think I should cut him a bit more slack?" Jack asked as he stood.

"A bit more, yeah. Not too much though."

Jack smiled. "OK, I can manage that." He took Martha's arm as they left the boardroom. "Now, let's get started on figuring out a way to put a stop to this latest alien threat."


	5. Chapter 5

The night passed excruciatingly slowly, made all the worse by his agitated sleeplessness. Jack tossed and turned constantly, but even physical tiredness was unable to still his riotous mind. He kept replaying the entire day, trying to look at events from every angle and formulate some sort of idea to put a stop to the latest danger. But no matter how hard he tried his thoughts kept dwelling on the conversation he had with Gwen and Martha in the pub.

Was it possible that Olivia was a Time Lord? As much as his intellect rebelled against the idea his instincts were all but shouting that it was, indeed, possible. The most telling fact was how his own memories of the paradox machine created by the Master tallied in every particular with the description Olivia had given of her recurring dream. That alone made it clear that she was somehow connected to the Tardis. But how?

He rolled over onto his back and stared into the darkness, yanking his unruly thoughts back on track. He didn't need the Doctor to tell him that Krillitanes with the ability to travel through time and space at will represented a major threat to the whole of the universe. They had to be stopped, and now was as good a time as any. Better, in fact, since they were now in possession of more information than the Krillitanes thought. The element of surprise would be in Torchwood's favour.

And something else had started to come forth from where he had shoved it to the back of his mind. The Krillitane that they had encountered in the car park that morning had known him; had called him by name. Compared to everything else that little fact had seemed trivial and unimportant but now, with the time and the privacy to think about it, he found he couldn't stop.

And Martha had heard it as well. Even if he had somehow managed to forget it wasn't likely that she would. Gwen had been fetching the car at the time, so he was safe on that count. He wasn't sure if Olivia had been aware of what was said, but it was a good bet she had. Not that it needed anyone else; Martha wasn't going to let the fact go.

Jack sat up with a sigh, giving up the effort to sleep. He shivered in the chilly air as he quickly dressed before climbing to his office, hoping to distract himself with some of the never-ending paperwork. With luck that would prove boring enough to allow him to sleep.

Once in his office, though, Jack received a check to his plans. He could see the Tardis through the windows, and was surprised that the doors were open and light was spilling out into the Hub. He quietly moved across the main room, not wanting to wake Olivia who was (lucky her) sleeping soundly in her corner. He cautiously approached the Tardis, peering around the door.

"Is it time to tell me the rest of it?"

Jack started violently when the Doctor spoke. "Damnit!" he exclaimed. "You nearly scared the crap out of me." He entered the Tardis, pulling the doors to behind him. "Don't you ever sleep?" he asked.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Don't you?" he countered.

Jack had to smile. "Not tonight I don't," he replied. "So, did you leave the doors open so invitingly because you were lonely or to tempt me to some indiscretion?"

"The only indiscretions I'm interested in are verbal ones," the Doctor replied, sitting down and propping his feet up on the ship's control panel. "I know that both you and Martha are not telling me something. I've been sitting here waiting for one of you to break and spill the beans."

Jack sighed and sat beside his friend. "Which part do you want to hear first? The part where the Krillitane we encountered today knew who I was or the part where we've been wondering if Livvie could be a Time Lord?"

"You wondered WHAT?!?!"

Jack quickly explained about the watch in Olivia's belongings and how she had displayed a natural affinity for the temporal anomaly created by the Krillitane, pinpointing its location before any of their instruments could. He didn't mention her recurring dream and its similarities to the paradox machine, not yet. The Doctor listened patiently, without interrupting. When Jack finished he sighed.

"I can see how you could have leapt to that conclusion," he said. "And it's funny, because she does remind me a bit of someone I knew when I was a child. But there are a number of obstacles, not the least of which is –"

"You'd recognize her as another Time Lord," Jack interrupted. "Yeah, we know. But you didn't recognize the Master until it was too late."

"Which is where Olivia having that watch enters into the picture. But she can't have used a Chamleon Arch, because –"

"She'd register as human on every test we did." Jack glanced sidelong at the Doctor. "We've already considered pretty much every pro and con of the situation, and it just doesn't fit. Although. . ." His voice trailed off.

"What?" the Doctor asked. "What have you left out?"

"She has this recurring dream. A dream in which she sort of exists inside something that bears an interesting resemblance to the Master's paradox machine."

There were a few moments of uncomfortable silence before Jack turned to look at his companion and almost laughed out loud. "You're gobsmacked!" he exclaimed. "I never expected to be able to render you speechless."

"I'm just trying to anticipate whatever twist your mind might have put on that," the Doctor replied, sounding mildly offended. "I'm guessing that you've come to the conclusion that Olivia is connected to the Tardis somehow, but are still working on how, exactly."

Jack shrugged. "Why not? You know as well as I do that you don't have to be a Time Lord to connect with this thing. Rose proved that. So did Donna."

"And they both nearly died as a result. Call me crazy but I imagine your new friend would suffer the same consequences."

Jack paled. "I hadn't thought of that."

"So maybe you still need me around after all?" the Doctor asked. He held up a hand to forestall any response Jack might make. "Never mind," he said as he stood. "Go back to bed, Captain. Try and salvage some sleep out of what's left of this night."

"What about you?"

"I have a few more ideas on how to solve our more immediate problem that I want to test. I'll bring you up to speed in the morning."

****~**~**~**~**~****

"I think I may have the solution."

They had all gathered in the conference room the next morning, and the debate on how to combat the Krillitane threat had been going on for nearly two hours. The ideas had ranged from the practical to the outrageous to the it'll-never-work-in-a-million-years. Olivia had been suspiciously silent the entire time, which had worried Jack. She was, after all, the most directly threatened.

But now she had spoken up, and everyone's attention was drawn to her. She cleared her throat. "I think I know the best way to fix this," she repeated. "Not a temporary patch on the problem, either. This could be a permanent solution; it would even work if the Krillitanes somehow assimilate another time traveling species."

"What do you have in mind?" Martha asked, leaning forward slightly and propping her elbows on the table.

"A virus," Olivia replied. "We get a DNA sample and synthsise a virus; a virus specifically targeted to their spatial-temporal manipulation and time traveling abilities. It won't kill them or interfere with any of their other characteristics."

"How could that be a permanent solution, like you said?" Ianto asked.

Martha laughed. "Because like any good virus once the disease has run its course it confers immunity because the virus stays in the system. That immunity, for lack of a better word, will make it impossible for the Krillitane species to ever again gain these abilities. They could assimilate every species in the universe that possesses a natural gift for toying with space and time and it won't do them any good!" She laughed again. "It's bloody brilliant!"

Jack got out of his chair and started to pace the room. "Can we do it, though? Assuming we can get our hands on Krillitane DNA would we be able to produce this virus?"

"And if we do how the hell do we deliver it?" Gwen asked.

Jack waved her question aside. "We'll worry about that problem if it comes to that." He glanced around the table, meeting the eyes of Olivia, Martha, and the Doctor in turn. "You three are the ones that count, here, so tell me honestly. Is this possible?"

There was silence in the room while the trio exchanged glances. Olivia shrugged and deferred to the other two. "I'll do what I can to help," she said, "but I'm not sure what I remember of science is up to the task."

"I don't see why we can't do it," the Doctor finally said. "You have a top-of-the-line lab here; between that, the Tardis, and Martha and I we should be able to come up with something."

Jack felt a grin start as his excitement grew. "So first things first. How do we get a DNA sample?"

"We know that there is at least one Krillitane on Earth, and in this area," Ianto said, standing up and putting the temporal anomaly tracking data on the monitor. "We should be able to determine where he might appear next and intercept."

"Or we could draw him out," Olivia said. "Get him to come to place of our choosing so if it comes down to a fight it's done on our terms."

"How do you propose to do that?" Jack asked.

"A lure," Olivia responded. "Well, it's bait, actually. And by bait I mean me."

Jack felt his stomach tighten with dread, but before he could say anything Gwen, Ianto and Martha were all up and protesting the idea. The Doctor stayed in his seat, watching Olivia with a speculative look on his face. That look bothered Jack more than his own fear of placing Olivia in such a situation, but he didn't speak up, not yet. He wanted until the rest of the team had burnt their arguments out before meeting Olivia's eyes.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked softly.

Olivia, the first sign of fear entering her eyes, only nodded in reply.

Jack stood up with a nod. "Tomorrow then, we'll try and meet with our old friend in Grangetown."

****~**~**~**~**~****

The preparations took the rest of the day and a good portion of the night. Most of the time was absorbed in arguing over who would go along to protect and serve as Olivia's back-up. Jack had settled that with brutal efficiency; there was no way he was staying behind and Ianto had the technical expertise in tracking the temporal feedback pockets. Gwen made arrangements with Rhys for them to borrow a van from his haulage company, a result of Martha reminding them that their quarry had seen the SUV.

Without the SUV and all its equipment they'd be somewhat blind, so Olivia wore the camera contact lenses, tied in to the laptop that Ianto carried. After a few false starts they had the system working, despite Olivia's good-natured complaints that the texting on the lenses made her nauseous.

Gwen, Martha, and the Doctor stayed behind in the Hub, all wired into the comm system with Jack and Ianto. Olivia would be dependent on whatever text messages came on the lenses she wore; it was thought a visible comm and earpiece would make the Krillitane suspicious. The only weapon she carried was a six inch fillet knife in a scabbard at the small of her back, intended to excise a slice of flesh from the target.

When the van pulled up outside the empty car park Jack sat for a moment, planning on giving Olivia some last minute instructions or pep talk. But when the time came his throat felt tight and his mind full of static. He could only give her a nod of acknowledgement and a weak smile.

"We'll be right here," Ianto said quietly, squeezing her shoulder. "Be careful."

With one quick grin Olivia got out of the van, adjusted her jacket to cover the scabbarded knife, and walked under the gate in the driveway. Jack quickly put the van in gear and drove a block away to their surveillance point. The laptop was on and functioning; they started to receive pictures from the contact lenses.

"Gwen, are you getting this?" Ianto asked as they followed Olivia climbing the stairs of the car park.

"Perfectly."

_All clear here_, Ianto typed, sending the message to the lenses. The image on the screen bobbed up and down twice as Olivia nodded in acknowledgement then continued straight on up the stairs. As they had agreed she stopped on the second level from the top, hidden inside the stairwell. That was where the Krillitane had appeared before, after all.

"Gwen, are you getting anything on the scanners there?" Jack asked.

"Nothing," Gwen replied, the sound of computer keys clicking in the background. "No temporal feedback pockets or any other sort of anomalies. It's completely quiet."

"How much warning do your instruments usually give you before the pocket opens up?" the Doctor asked.

"About a minute," Ianto replied. "But we've recorded some where the lapse between the anomaly starting and it opening was as long as four minutes.

"I wouldn't count on that happening now," the Doctor said. "If anything their control will have improved and you won't get any warning at all."

"The only warning we might get is from Olivia," Jack put in. "She might sense something before any of our scanners can."

Even as he spoke they saw Olivia's finger enter the image on the monitor, pointing up. _Upstairs?_ Ianto asked via the keyboard. The image bobbed again as Olivia nodded. _Feedback?_ Her hand came into the image again and waggled from side to side.

"What does that mean?" Martha asked.

"I'd guess that's her way of saying _Maybe_," Ianto replied.

"Ohhhhh, she's good," Gwen interjected. "We've got a temporal anomaly forming on the top level of the car park."

"We're reading that here as well," Jack replied, nodding to Ianto. _Go up – be careful._ Olivia gave a thumb's up in front of her eyes before they watched her climb the final flight of stairs.

"Gwen, make sure the lip reading software is ready to go," Jack ordered as Olivia reached the door.

"That'll only give us half of the conversation."

"That's better than nothing."

They watched as Olivia pulled open the door and stepped through, then everyone drew a collective breath. It was the same globe of blue and yellow light as before, only this time the colors were brighter and the globe smaller, more compact. It seemed that the Doctor's prediction was right; they were developing better control. And then a Krillitane appeared, so suddenly that Olivia started, causing the image to slip out of focus for a moment. She steadied herself, though, and they saw she took a couple of steps closer.

The Doctor gave a low whistle. "Krillitanes didn't look like that the last time I saw one," he said. "This might be worse than we thought."

"You're not helping," Martha said.

Just then the Krillitane spoke and they heard the translation from the lip reading software.

"Why have you come here?" the computerized voice asked.

****~**~**~**~**~****

"Why have you come here?"

Olivia swallowed, fighting the hard lump of fear in her throat. "I thought we should meet, since I imagine we have some things to discuss."

"There is nothing to discuss. We require your skills to perfect our control of the space-time vortex, not your voice."

"Now, see, that's where we disagree." Olivia put her hands behind her back and felt the reassuring solidity of the knife. "You apparently know a few things about me, and those are things I'd very much like to hear."

"We know nothing other than you created a path that we have followed to this planet at this point in time."

"So how do you know that I have these skills you mentioned?" She held up her left arm, the leather wristband of the vortex manipulator clearly visible. "What if that path was actually mechanically created?"

"We would know the difference. That mechanism played a part in this, but you controlled your path."

Olivia was so surprised that she forgot her purpose in being there. "Then you know what I am," she asked, eagerly walking forward. "What species I am. Can you tell me?"

The Krillitane smiled, and on that face it looked grim and foreboding. "You will not require that knowledge once you are dead," he said.

His matter-of-fact way of discussing her death jerked Olivia back to reality, and she quickly pulled her knife free and took a step back. "I'll keep my life, thanks."

"I have not given you a choice."

The Krillitane suddenly spread his wings and launched himself into the air with stunning speed. When he landed directly behind her Olivia spun round, brandishing the knife. She slashed at his arm once and then the knife was knocked from her hand with a brutal force that left her entire arm numb. A hand went round her throat and started to squeeze, cutting off her air. She could feel the Krillitane's claws digging into her skin and she lifted her hands as her vision started to go black. . .

The honking horn of the van sounded abnormally loud as it come up the last ramp and stopped with a screech of its tires. There was one gunshot and Olivia felt something warm drench the collar of her jacket a split second before the Krillitane released her. She fell to her knees, coughing as she tried to gulp down air.

"Liv! LIV?! Are you all right?!"

She collapsed sideways into a pair of strong arms that supported her and helped her rise to her feet, albeit a bit unsteadily. She took a deep breath and recognized the scent of the person who held her. Her eyes opened.

"I'm all right, Ianto," she said, smothering more coughs. "You guys arrived here just in time; I thought I was done for."

"Well, when we heard the Krillitane mention your death Jack decided enough was enough," Ianto said, continuing to hold her steady.

"The bastard got away," she heard Jack say as he approached. "DAMNIT!"

"What can we do now?" Ianto asked, releasing Olivia. "They'll be more on guard after this, making it a lot more difficult to get that DNA sample."

"I know," Jack replied, holstering his revolver. "We'll have to think of something –"

He suddenly reached out and grabbed Olivia by the shoulders, turning her to face him directly. His jaw dropped as he saw the bloodstain on the left shoulder and collar of her jacket. "Are you hurt?" he asked, looking her up and down for any other signs of injury. "What the hell happened?"

Olivia looked down at her jacket, her eyes widening. "I think that's his blood. I. . . I remember a gunshot. . ."

Jack nodded. "I fired once; he let you go and took off." He turned Olivia's head and studied the deep scratches and bruises that were developing on her throat. "Are you sure you're not injured besides that?"

"The Krillitane bled on her jacket," Ianto said. Jack looked at him blankly. "He bled on her jacket. There's our DNA sample."

"It's not the only one," Olivia said, a sly smile curling her mouth. Jack and Ianto both looked at her in puzzlement. "He was choking me and I could feel his claws cutting into my skin, and it gave me an idea. So. . ." He voice trailed off as she held up her hands. There was caked and crusted blood under the nails of all eight fingers.


	6. Chapter 6

"You scratched him! Well, more like gouged him."

Olivia sat on the autopsy table in the medical room while Martha carefully removed the dried blood and bits of skin from under her fingernails. "I didn't have a whole lot of choice, Gwen. Not once he knocked the knife out of my hand."

"I'm surprised you had the presence of mind to think of it," Martha commented as she used a small forceps to pull debris from under a pinky nail. "Your arm numbed from the blow, being choked, your brain shutting down from lack of oxygen. . ."

"I don't think I so much _thought_ of scratching him as some instinct kicked in," Olivia replied with a wry smile. "I could feel his nails digging into my skin and it simply occurred to me to do the same."

"So you may not have conscious memories, but there's something there," Gwen said. "Something from your days as a Time Agent?"

Olivia shrugged. "If I could remember I might be able to confirm that," she replied, drawing laughs from both of her companions.

"I think we can take it as given," Martha said, extracting the last sample and carefully sealing it in a test tube, which she added to the rack. "I'll take these to the Doctor," she added, carrying the rack out of the medical lab. "We'll be able to work faster with the help of the Tardis, and the sooner we get done the better off we'll all be."

Olivia jumped down off of the table and immediately went to the sink to scrub her hands. The drumming of the water was loud in the sink's metal bowl, making conversation difficult.

"Are you all right, Liv?" Gwen asked when the water was turned off.

Olivia nodded. "As all right as can be expected. After all, it was my idea, wasn't it? It wouldn't do for me to feel any intense fear," she replied, clenching her hands tightly together to still their shaking.

Gwen noticed, but didn't mention it. She knew what it was like to come in to Torchwood and work your first case. She had shivered and quaked with fear herself, and she had a whole lifetime of memories and her police training to help her. How much worse could it be for Olivia, who was in a sense blind as she worked her way through? She opened her mouth to reassure and comfort the other woman, but stopped when she realized that no comfort was possible. The awkward moment was saved when Ianto appeared at the top of the stairs.

"I saw Martha with the samples," he said. "She seemed confident this plan will succeed."

Olivia turned away from the sink and trotted up the stairs. "I should be helping them with the DNA sequencing," she said. "I've got to be of more use than nearly dying."

"Liv –" Gwen began.

"I was also wondering if either of you have seen Jack," Ianto interrupted. "He was awfully quiet and subdued when we returned the van to Rhys and I haven't seen him since we got back to the Hub."

Olivia halted in the doorway of the lab. "He's not here?" she asked. When Ianto shook his head she continued. "Is that normal for him? To disappear after a major operation?"

"Not at all normal," Gwen responded, starting to feel anxious herself. "I thought it was strange that he wasn't here with us while Martha got the samples. . ." Her voice trailed off as she worried her bottom lip with her teeth. "You've looked throughout the Hub for him?" she asked Ianto.

He nodded. "Everywhere. And I checked the CCTV; he's not out on the plaza either."

"We'd better start canvassing some of the local pubs, then," Gwen said as the three of them left the lab. She and Ianto gathered their coats. "Ianto, you go round the bay and I'll check the neighborhood around the castle. One of us will find him, I'm sure."

"What about me?" Olivia asked.

"You said it yourself, Liv. You need to help Martha and the Doctor."

They quickly left, leaving Olivia by herself in the Hub. She took a couple of steps towards the Tardis, but stopped with a shake of her head. Instinct, sixth sense, whatever you want to call it – something was telling her that Gwen and Ianto were on the wrong track. She closed her eyes and breathed slowly and carefully. She had told Jack one time before that she always knew when he was nearby, and that feeling was especially strong right then.

Her eyes popped open and she gasped. Helping Martha could wait; she knew where Jack was and was going to find him.

****~**~**~**~**~****

The view from the top of the Millennium Centre was unparalleled, but on this day Jack was oblivious to it, his thoughts completely turned inward. The wind was blowing briskly, making it feel much colder than it was, but he was apparently immune to that as well. He stood, staring blankly out across Cardiff. And totally unaware that Olivia had joined him.

She had grabbed his coat before leaving the Hub and riding a special service elevator to the peak of the Centre's roof. When she climbed the ladder and opened the hatch she saw Jack standing nearby. She smiled slightly, pleased that whatever instinct she had with regard to him still seemed to be working perfectly. She waited until she was just a couple of feet behind him and then spoke.

"Ya know, with the way the temperature is dropping and the wind blowing up here coming out without your coat was probably not the best idea."

Jack started but didn't turn around. He held out his arms, and with a laugh Olivia stepped forward and helped him in to the coat.

"Thanks," he said.

"You're welcome." Olivia looked around, taking in the expanse of the city and the bay that was spread out around her. "This is amazing!" she exclaimed, moving to stand beside Jack. "What an incredible view!"

"Is it?" Jack asked. "I haven't really noticed. Not today."

Something in his voice caught her attention and she turned to look directly at him. She stared for nearly a minute, and when Jack refused to meet her eyes Olivia nodded.

"I see."

Jack finally turned his head and met her gaze. "See what, exactly?" he asked.

Olivia moved away from him, turning to look out across the plaza below. "Martha got the blood and tissue samples from under my fingernails and cut a piece of my jacket to test. She's confident that she and the Doctor will be able to get genetic material and then create a virus. They're working on it now."

"And the others? Gwen and Ianto?"

"Out looking for you. They told me that you wouldn't normally disappear so completely after an operation, but I think I understand now why you did."

"How'd you find me so easily?"

Olivia smiled. "I told you, Jack. I always know when you're nearby. Instinct, remember?"

Jack nodded but didn't otherwise reply. Minutes passed in which the two of them didn't speak. Jack stared blankly out towards the bay with Olivia watching him out of the corner of her eye. When she finally got completely frustrated with the combination of the cold, the wind, and his odd behavior she spoke up.

"It wasn't your fault, you know."

Jack closed his eyes and a look of pain crossed his features. He should have known she'd cut right to the heart of it.

"Jack, look at me." He opened his eyes and faced Olivia, meeting her gaze directly. "You can't blame yourself for this. Just because I nearly got injured –"

"Killed."

"Sorry?"

Jack sighed and shoved a hand through his hair. "You didn't nearly get injured, Livvie. You **did** get injured. You nearly got killed."

Olivia reached up and touched the scratches and rapidly darkening bruises on her throat. "Semantics, Jack," she replied. "The point is that it's not your fault, no matter how much you want to beat yourself up about it."

Jack reached out and took hold of her shoulders. "Whose fault is it if not mine? I didn't have to agree to your idea. We could have figured something else out. But instead I allowed you to knowingly walk into danger, with no conscious memory of skills that could protect you, while I sat back and watched it happen!" He let go of her then and walked away, breathing deep to calm his rioting thoughts.

Olivia threw up her hands in disgust. "Oh, for God's sake! That is just so much egotistical male bullshit! You 'allowed' me to do this? Allowed my ass! It was my choice, Jack. Mine. Hell, never mind choice, it was my bloody idea! And what else could we have done?" she continued. "Krillitanes aren't stupid, you know. Their need to assimilate me was the only thing that could have dropped their guard enough!"

Jack spun back around. "I could have used myself!" he shouted violently. "I _should_ have used myself."

"What are you talking about?"

"That first encounter with the Krillitane, in the car park," Jack said, his voice sounding suddenly weary. "It called me by name. It knew me, somehow. I could have baited this trap."

Olivia didn't respond immediately. She stood for so long simply studying Jack that her steady gaze started to make him uncomfortable. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, waiting for her to say something that might make him feel less foolish.

"OK, fair enough," she finally said, causing Jack to sigh in relief. "Yes, you could have put yourself out there as bait. . ."

"But?"

"But you don't know anything about the situation. You don't know how that Krillitane knows you, Jack," Olivia continued. "Would you honestly have been willing to risk this entire plan on the off chance that your presence would have been just as effective as mine?"

Jack started to feel uncomfortable again. He looked down at his feet. "Probably not," he muttered.

Olivia grinned at his barely audible response. "Why yes, Livvie! You're absolutely right; it was idiotic of me to ever think that I would have been a better choice to lure our friend out! I'm so happy that we went with the sure thing and succeeded!" She laughed out loud. "That is what you should have said, Jack."

Jack raised his head and met her eyes, returning her grin. "You're absolutely right; it was idiotic of me to ever think that I would have been a better choice to lure our friend out." He walked back to Olivia's side and offered her his arm. She slipped her hand into the crook of his elbow and they moved toward the hatch to get down off the roof.

"There is one thing I'll do differently if anything like this ever happens again," Jack said.

"What's that?"

"I'll not park the van so far away."

****~**~**~**~**~****

"I don't think the blood on Olivia's jacket is going to yield anything useful, but we're very lucky with the rest of it," Martha said later that evening as they convened in the board room. "We should have a full DNA profile within two hours, and then we can get to work on engineering a virus."

"Before we start that, though," the Doctor began, "we need to decide on a delivery method. Well, delivery person, actually."

Gwen exchanged a glance with Ianto, both of them looking confused. "Why is that a question?" she asked. "Surely all it needs is an injection."

Jack shook his head. "That won't work. Injecting the virus will only infect the Krillitane that we stick the needle into; it won't be assimilated into the entire species. We need to get the virus to spread to all of them if this plan is going to work." He waited a moment, watching as comprehension dawned and Gwen's jaw dropped. He stood up. "Gwen, Ianto, Livvie – could you excuse us, please? I need to have a word with Martha and the Doctor alone."

Olivia stood right away and walked toward the door, but both Ianto and Gwen hesitated. Gwen opened her mouth to speak but Jack glared at her, stopping the words. She exchanged one quick glance with Martha before heading out of the room. Ianto followed, but not without a questioning look for the three who remained. Jack waited until the door closed before turning his attention to his companions. The Doctor look slightly nonplussed; Martha looked angry.

"What was all of that about?" the Doctor asked. "Surely you want them –"

"She doesn't know," Martha interrupted.

"No, she doesn't," Jack replied returning Martha's stare with one just as belligerent.

"Doesn't know wha –"

"For Christ's sake, Jack!" Martha exclaimed, cutting across the Doctor's question. "You take in this lost soul, all but adopt her into your team, give her access to who knows what kind of information, but you don't let her in on the biggest secret of them all?"

Comprehension dawned on the Doctor's face. "She doesn't know about how you can't die?" he asked, giving Jack a dumbfounded look. "Well, that's going to make things awkward, don't you think?"

"How do you mean?" Jack asked, although he knew perfectly well what was being implied.

"Don't you think it'll generate questions when she sees that you're willing to be the victim of the Krillitanes so that they can assimilate the virus?" Martha interjected, sounding exasperated.

"Of course he knows that," the Doctor said. "I think he's just being deliberately obtuse. Either that or he doesn't want to take responsibility for a decision that, in retrospect, was incredibly stupid."

"Wait just one minute," Jack began.

Martha stepped in between the two men. "Knock it off! You can fight this out later. For now we need to be thinking about the greater issue, which means figuring out a way to make this virus not only wipe out the time traveling but also counter Jack's immortality." She turned to the Doctor. "Can you do it?"

"Of course I can."

"Well then, get on with it." When he had left the room she turned back to Jack. "I'm not disagreeing with him, you know. If you made a conscious decision to keep Olivia in the dark about this it really was stupid."

Jack sighed and scrubbed his face with both hands. "I didn't make any decision; it just never came up."

"Well, Gwen obviously caught on to the fact that you have to be the one to deliver the virus. Will she tell Olivia why?"

"Not without my say-so," Jack said. He sank back into one of the chairs, put his elbows on the table and buried his face in his hands. "God, what a mess this is turning into. I freaked out about nearly getting her killed, and now Livvie gets to watch me volunteer to die." He lifted his head and glanced at Martha, flashing his familiar rakish grin. "Albeit temporarily."

"This isn't funny, Jack."

"Sorry," he said, not sounding apologetic in the least. "I suppose I'm getting cynical in my old age with such morbid jokes."

Martha sat down across the table from Jack. "Will you tell her?" she asked.

"Probably not. No reason to, really, when she'll find out everything soon enough."

"So you'd prefer to leave her in that dark, scare her out of her wits and then shock her nearly to death when you come back to life?" Martha said. "Kind of unnecessarily cruel, I'd think. Especially with someone you care about."

"It can't be helped at this point. I say we go ahead with the plan and if I have to apologize to Livvie later I will. I'll even grovel, if –"

Jack's comment was cut short by shouts and cries for help that echoed through the Hub. He and Martha exchanged a quick glance before surging to their feet and running out of the board room. When they entered the main space they saw the doors to the Tardis open and agitated voices coming from within. Martha ran to the lab to get her medical bag as Jack went inside.

The scene that met his eyes was a study in chaos. The central column of the Tardis was glowing a golden color as opposed to its normal blue-ish white. Gwen and Ianto were having an animated conversation that bordered on an argument while the Doctor knelt beside a prone form that was unmistakably Olivia's. Jack rushed forward and knelt at her other side.

"What the hell happened?" he shouted above the noise as Martha arrived with her medical kit.

"Both of you, out of the way," she said, shoving the Doctor aside so she could examine the unconscious Olivia.

Jack stood up and approached Gwen and Ianto. "What happened?" he repeated. When they both started to talk at once he held up a hand. "One at a time, for pity's sake!"

"We were all just sitting and talking, keeping an eye on the rift activity monitors," Ianto began, "when Gwen got a phone call. She walked off to answer it and all of a sudden Olivia went completely still and silent, almost like she was in a trance. She stood up and walked toward this – " he gestured around him to encompass the Tardis. "Its door opened as soon as she approached and I followed her in."

"I found them there not two minutes later," Gwen took up the thread of the story. "Just as I came in I saw Liv touch one of the panels on the control console; it opened and a bright, gold light started to come out. It moved, like it was alive, and surrounded her."

"The light kept getting brighter until it was blinding," Ianto continued. "We both closed our eyes and turned away from it, but when the light faded, and the panel had closed again, we found Olivia, exactly as you see her now."

"That's it?" Jack asked. When they both nodded he turned to Martha. "How is she?"

"She seems fine. Pulse and breathing are normal, and her pupils are reactive." Martha pulled a stethoscope out of her bag. "I just want to check her heart. . ." Her voice trailed off and her jaw dropped; she moved the bell of the stethoscope from the left to the right side of Olivia's chest. Jack noticed the movement and felt his stomach clench.

"Martha, please tell me you moved that thing because you failed heart in medical school and can't remember where it is."

"No such luck," she replied, gesturing Jack down and handing him the earpieces. When he was set to listen she did the same thing as before, moving the bell from the left to the right.

Jack went pale. "No, no, no, no!" He looked up at the Doctor, who had been watching the whole process. Without another word he knelt, took the stethoscope from Martha and listened for himself. He didn't speak, but pulled out the sonic screwdriver and started to scan Olivia's form.

"This is insane," he mumbled, half to himself. "It's not possible. I don't recognize her. Who the hell is she?" He laid a hand on Olivia's forehead.

Her eyes popped open.

Jack immediately leant forward and helped her to a sitting position. "Are you all right?" he asked.

She nodded and struggled to her feet as the Doctor rose and backed away a few steps. The pair of them stood face to face, each studying the other, for what felt like an hour. Finally Olivia spoke, but her words came as a complete shock to everyone.

"You absolute, unmitigated bastard!"

And then she punched the Doctor in the face.


	7. Chapter 7

"Well, that was. . ."

"Unexpected," Gwen commented, finishing Ianto's thought.

It was an hour later and they were gathered again in the boardroom. All except Olivia, who had gone to ground and was nowhere to be found.

The Doctor had an icepack pressed to his jaw; every few minutes he would open and close his mouth with exaggerated movements as if testing to make sure it still worked. Jack was working very hard at not laughing while Martha tried to keep things as normal as possible. Gwen and Ianto were both still in shock.

"Which part was unexpected?" the Doctor asked, laying the icepack down on the table and gingerly touching his still swollen jaw. "The revelation or the punch?"

"Looked like she had a hell of a right hook, though," Jack said with a wide grin.

Martha glared at him. "You're not helping."

"I'm not trying to," Jack replied, returning her glare in full. "I don't want to make him feel better," he continued, nodding towards the Doctor. "I want him to start explaining."

"Explain what, exactly?" the Doctor asked, wincing at the pain that shot through his jaw. "This was just as much a surprise to me as it was to any of you!"

Jack opened his mouth, fully prepared to angrily retort, when Gwen kicked him under the table. "You said you didn't recognize her when you were scanning her with that –"

"Sonic screwdriver," Martha put in.

Gwen nodded in acknowledgement. "- sonic screwdriver," she finished. "But when Olivia regained consciousness she certainly seemed to recognize you."

"In spades," Jack muttered. Gwen shot him an angry look and he subsided, sitting back in his chair and letting others direct the conversation.

"So," Gwen continued, "can we take it that you now recognize her as well?"

The Doctor sighed and nodded, pushing both hands through his hair. "I can only explain things that I know for myself, all right? Most of your questions are going to have to be answered by Olivia, although I could probably offer all kinds of speculation."

"More speculation is, I think, the last thing we need right now," Martha said.

"Fair enough," the Doctor replied. He took some time to gather his thoughts before continuing. "First of all I'm going to say that the name I knew her by was not Olivia Raines, but if that's what she chose for herself I'm not going to say differently. I don't exactly parade my name around, so. . ." He took a deep breath. "I knew Olivia when we were children," he said. "And I mean children as you would view it, not the extended idea of childhood that was common on our planet. I was eight years old and a new arrival at the Academy. Olivia was thirteen and was assigned to look after me as a. . . Well, I suppose you'd call it a peer counselor or mentor. She kept an eye on me; made sure I got to all of my meals on time, helped me with class work and comforted me when I got too homesick."

"So she's actually older than you?" Martha asked. "Although it's hard to think of it as older when you're nine hundred and three."

The Doctor spared a moment for a smile. "That just makes Olivia nine hundred and eight."

Ianto let out a long, low whistle. When everyone glanced his way he blushed. "You have to admit, though, she looks damned good on it."

"And I don't?" the Doctor asked, one eyebrow raised. When the laughter faded away he continued his story. "We became close friends over the years, and stayed in touch after she left the academy. After I graduated I went to her father for further training, and we spent a lot of time together whenever she was at home."

"You fell in love with her," Gwen said. It wasn't a question.

The Doctor shrugged. "Yes, no, maybe. Who can say? But her parents certainly had expectations of our relationship, and so did mine."

"What happened?" Jack asked, speaking up for the first time since the recitation had begun.

"Nothing. She went on with her education and career, and so did I."

"But surely you must have seen each other," Martha said. "I find it hard to believe that two young Time Lords in training wouldn't have crossed paths."

"Well, see, that's the problem –"

"I'm not a Time Lord."

They all jumped at the sound of Olivia's voice, and Jack sprang to his feet. "Where have you been?" he asked.

Olivia slid into the chair opposite the Doctor and shook her head. "Let's leave that discussion for later, all right? There are quite a few more explanations I have to give right now." She met the Doctor's gaze across the table and smiled ruefully at his swollen jaw. "Sorry about that," she mumbled.

"Apology accepted," he replied. "I'd smile right now to show no harm done but it hurts too much."

"OK, social niceties are now over," Jack interjected. "Let's get on with the story, beginning with what the hell do you mean by 'I'm not a Time Lord'. I thought that was the name of the entire species."

"It is," the Doctor said. "Well, nearly everyone. Well, most of us. Well –"

"What he is trying to say –" Olivia interrupted with a hard look for the Doctor "- is that although all Time Lords are Gallifreyan not all Gallifreyans are Time Lords." She looked around the table and was met by blank stares. "It's just like how all squares are rectangles but not all rectangles are squares."

"So you're from the same planet," Gwen said, "but you had different jobs?"

"That's probably the best way to look at it," Olivia replied with a nod. "Being a Time Lord was pretty much like any other job in our society. Well, it was the job with all of the prestige and most of the fame, but a job nonetheless."

"So why weren't you one?" Ianto asked. "Did you not qualify somehow?"

The Doctor made a sound that was suspiciously like a snort. "Hardly," he said. "She was qualified, trained. . . A lot of the elders believed she was the best of our generation. And she threw it all away."

"I didn't throw anything away," Olivia retorted, her voice rising in anger. "I chose a different path, that's all."

"Why?" Jack asked. "Why would you do something like that?"

Olivia sighed. "Name any one of a dozen reasons and chances are it applied to me. I disagreed with most of the dogma, for lack of a better word, of the Time Lords; I didn't like the idea of spending my entire, very long life living under a set of rules that I couldn't stomach. Plus I had spent my entire childhood watching what being a Time Lord had done to my father, and to our family, and I didn't want to inflict that on anyone. So I turned my back and walked away."

"What did you do instead?"

Olivia laughed. "Believe it or not, Martha, I was a doctor. The Gallifreyan equivalent of a physician." She met the Doctor's eyes. "Ironic, isn't it?"

"Very," he said.

"Anyway, that's pretty much the story of how we parted ways in our twenties," Olivia continued. "And I haven't seen him again until now."

"But how did you recognize him?" Martha asked. "I mean, it makes sense that you would recognize your own species, but how did you know it was him, specifically?"

"Because I touched her," the Doctor replied before Olivia could. "All Gallifreyans have a limited telepathic ability – it's one of the ways that a Time Lord communicates with a Tardis, for example – but physical contact creates a telepathic connection. So despite the fact that I've regenerated nine times since Olivia and I knew each other she'd recognize me immediately that way." Again he and Olivia shared a glance. "And I recognized her, in spite of heaven knows how many regenerations on her part."

Olivia grinned. "Only five, actually. Apparently I've had an easier life than you."

"OK, that's all very well and good to know," Jack said, leaning forward with his elbows on the table. "But now we get down to the big questions, beginning with how in the hell are you still alive? I know his story –" this said with a nod in the Doctor's direction "- but what about you, Livvie?"

"And I suppose the other half of that question is how in the hell did I stay hidden for so long?"

"That would also be good to know."

Olivia looked around the table at all of her companions. "Then I hope none of you are hungry or in need of a pee, because this part might take a while." When no one showed any signs of moving but instead had their attention riveted on her Olivia started to talk.

"Like I said I was a doctor. I didn't do anything special and I didn't want to do anything special. But then. . ." Her voice trailed off and she swallowed hard.

"The Time War," the Doctor completed her thought.

Olivia nodded. "I more or less got drafted into being a medical officer on board a Tardis. Despite limited defenses and no weaponry they were the backbone of Gallifrey's fighting force. We used guile and subterfuge, traveling back and forth, and manipulating the Vortex the hold the Daleks at bay for as long as possible, but also to prevent them from spreading throughout the rest of the universe."

"Not so successful on that point," Ianto commented under his breath.

"It's odd, thinking about it now, because I still don't know how things ended. Some things I know about, like Gallifrey being destroyed."

The Doctor reached out across the table and laid his hand over hers. "I'm sorry," he said simply.

Olivia nodded. "Long time ago," she said, pulling her hand free from his. "Anyway, like I said I was assigned as a medical officer on board a Tardis. My ship got caught by three Dalek ships one day as it exited the Vortex. We were sitting ducks. The captain and four of the other pilots died instantly – no chance to regenerate – while the sixth pilot was seriously wounded. The ship was extensively damaged, so even if I knew how there was no way I could fly it."

"How did you escape?" Gwen asked.

"I did something that no Time Lord would ever think of doing," Olivia said with a slight smile. "I broke open the central column and communicated directly with the ship, telling it to get us out of there however it could."

"You talked to the ship?"

"A Tardis is alive," the Doctor stepped in with an explanation. "I'll not go into all of the hows and whys of that, but the ship is alive and telepathic. Breaking open the central column would allow someone to speak directly into the Tardis' mind."

"The ship engaged its drive system and managed to get us back inside the Vortex. I had no idea where or when we were going and I had my hands full with trying to save the life of a wounded crewmate. Next thing I knew we crash-landed somewhere, damaging the Tardis beyond repair." She took a deep breath before continuing. "And that last pilot, who's life I had been struggling to save, died shortly after."

"He didn't regenerate?" Jack asked. "I thought that as long as the process of dieing took a few moments all a Time Lord had to do was choose to regenerate, and that it was pretty much automatic from there."

"It is, normally. But part of the regeneration process is in the Time Lord's connection to his Tardis, and. . ."

"Your Tardis was too heavily damaged," Martha finished. "Without that extra bit of power he wasn't able to regenerate."

Olivia nodded. "So that left me alone, in a ship that I couldn't heal or repair, with no clue what planet I was on or what point in time I was at. I don't know how long I stayed inside, too scared to venture out. But I finally decided that as long as Daleks weren't out there shooting at me it had to be better than what I had left behind. The Tardis had just enough power left in it to maintain the Chameleon Circuit, so I didn't have to worry about hiding it somehow. I stepped out the door and onto a beach, and when I turned to look behind me at the ship I saw just another sand dune."

"Where were you?" the Doctor asked.

"I found out later that I was on one of the moons of Padanaram, and that I had landed right in the middle of their civil war." Olivia scrubbed her face with her hands then, as if trying to clean her memories. "A farmer from a nearby village had seen the Tardis crash and found me on the beach a few hours later. He took me in, took care of my injuries, and kept me safe from the marauding military patrols that passed through the area almost daily. His name was Thilo Raines."

"Wait a minute," Jack said, standing up and pacing the room. "I remember the civil war in the Padanaram system. One of my first assignments with the Time Agency took me there! So you were there –"

"Late fifty-first century," Olivia said with a grin. "We could have met then, Jack. For all I remember we did," she concluded, shrugging.

"So you landed somewhere in the late fifty-first century," the Doctor said, musing more to himself than to anyone else. "That explains how you ended up joining the Time Agency."

Olivia grimaced. "It wasn't really my choice," she said. "Thilo did his best to help me, but we both knew that I had to get the hell out of that system and its civil war before it became known that I was Gallfreyan. The Time Agency was the best chance I had of successfully escaping. Thilo's wife had died three weeks before I crashed into his life, so he paid a local crook to destroy the records of her death and re-write her identification papers to match my description."

"And her name was Olivia," Jack put in.

"Exactly. So, armed with all of the proper papers and proof of identity I enlisted in the Time Agency."

"But how did you end up inside the Doctor's Tardis?" Martha asked.

"Not deliberately, I can assure you." Olivia smiled, but it had a rueful tinge. "Even with a new identity I felt it was important to eliminate any traces of who I was as a person of Gallifrey. I had access to a Tardis, already on the verge of death, in which I could conceal that identity and allow it to die a natural death when the Tardis did. I re-programmed the Chameleon Arch to connect to the heart of my Tardis instead of the watch that had been my father's."

"Your Tardis didn't have enough power to complete the transfer, though," the Doctor commented, rubbing his chin. "So the Arch sought out another, similar machine, and hid your essence inside it."

Olivia shrugged. "That must have been what happened, although I had no way of knowing it at the time. Based on how painful the process was –" she and the Doctor exchanged an understanding glance "- I had no reason to believe my plan had not been successful. I powered down the Tardis, sealed it against entry, and left Padanaram for my new life as a Time Agent."

"When did you realize the fault in the plan?" was Ianto's question.

"Eight years later, on a mission to the Inistoky system. Things went horribly wrong, and I was killed. Or I thought I was. I regenerated. That made it pretty clear that my essence as a Gallifreyan had not died. I knew it couldn't have been my ship, even if was still marginally alive, because my last crew mate had been unable to regenerate. So I guessed that there was another Tardis out there, somewhere in the universe, and that I had somehow tapped into its power. Other than that I didn't understand any of it. Until now, that is." Olivia looked directly at Jack. "And that damned recurring dream makes sense now; a part of me was trapped inside the Tardis until you shot the place up and freed me."

Jack grinned. "You're welcome."

"I think we can make sense of your memory loss now as well," the Doctor said. "What was it that frightened you enough to make use of the Vortex Manipulator's auto-pilot function?"

Olivia fell silent, her eyes closing and her expression twisting as she tried to remember. "I don't really know what it was," she said at last. "I can remember an overwhelming feeling of danger – absolute, total, and life-threatening danger – but not any specifics. Well, except for something that felt like my heart was on fire and my brain exploding."

"Neutrino energy," Jack said, glancing at the Doctor.

He nodded. "That was when the Tardis was nearly destroyed inside the Dalek Crucible. And Earth was not in its proper place – it was stuck in the Medusa Cascade, one second out of synch with the rest of the universe. The manipulator would have locked on to the rift here in Cardiff but was unable to find it, so –"

"So I was essentially adrift inside the space-time vortex for who knows how long?" Olivia asked, interrupting the Doctor. She laughed out loud. "I can totally see how that would have turned my memory into Swiss cheese!"

"And once we restored the Earth back to where it belonged, both spatially and temporally, you were able to land, which is what brought you to our doorstep," Jack concluded. "Albeit with gaps in your memory big enough to drive a lorry through."

Everyone was silent then, absorbing all that had happened and that they had learned. Finally Ianto spoke up. "What do we do now?"

Martha cleared her throat. "We carry on with the plan as established." She glanced at Jack. "We'll adjust whatever needs adjusting as we go along."


	8. Chapter 8

In the dead of the night something was moving inside the Hub.

It was silent except for the regular hum of electronics; a sound that all of the Hub's denizens were totally inured to. Occasionally water dripped from the base of the tower, and that was nearly enough to mask the sound of stealthy footsteps.

Olivia walked across the main work area, wincing as each step grated on the metal floor. The sound was much louder in her imagination than the reality, but she still expected someone to appear any minute. It was only by constantly reminding herself that no one else was around that she was able to continue. And it truly was no one; even Jack had consented to leave the Hub for the night. Well, consented might not be the right word; Martha had practically dragged him away, somehow sensing Olivia's need for solitude after all of the day's revelations.

Which showed just how wrong Martha could be. The last thing Olivia wanted at that moment was to be by herself, but she also knew that there was only one person in the universe that she wanted to talk to. Luckily (or perhaps telepathically) he had sensed that and stayed in the Hub.

The doors to the Tardis were firmly closed, but that didn't stop her for long. With a snap of her fingers both doors swung inward. She slipped quickly inside, pushing the doors too and securing them behind her. She turned and faced the central column.

"I can't believe that worked!"

The Doctor looked up from what he was doing. "What, the finger click? Of course it works! Not surprising that it worked for you on the first try, either. You have a strong connection to the ship, after all." He stepped out from behind the control panel of the Tardis and gazed at Olivia, one eyebrow raised. When he opened his arms she ran across the space separating them and leapt into his embrace.

Long minutes later she pulled away and stared up into the Doctor's eyes. "In a sense I _was_ the ship," Olivia commented, her tone teasing and a wide grin lighting up her face.

"I suppose you were," he replied, lifting one hand and pushing her hair back from her face. "You still have ginger hair," he said, sounding almost amazed. "I've always wanted to be ginger, but I could never remember why. Now I do."

"I'll gladly give it up," Olivia replied as the Doctor released his hold on her. "It's the one thing I've never gotten rid of. Six lifetimes and I've always had red hair. The only thing that changes is which shade of red."

"I always thought it was beautiful."

"Yeah, well, you also once thought that I was the most amazing person in the universe," Olivia scoffed. "You were ten years old at the time."

"Long time ago," the Doctor replied, matching her light-hearted tone. "Lifetimes ago." He grinned and then winced as pain shot through his jaw. "Why the hell did you punch me?" he asked.

Olivia blushed. "I don't really know. I suppose I was angry that a part of me was inside your bloody ship for years – well, centuries – and you didn't even recognize that fact." She reached out and gently turned his head so she could see the swelling and the now-developing bruise. "I _am_ sorry, you know. I guess I didn't have much control over my emotions at that moment."

"Understandable, considering that mere moments before you had tons of emotions and memories dumped back into your head." The Doctor took her hand and gave it a squeeze. "Apology accepted," he said with a smile.

"That's a relief," Olivia replied as she moved around him to take a seat. She nodded at a jumble of mechanical parts and tools that filled one of the few open spaces on the panel. "What are you working on?" she asked.

"Oh, that. . ." He pulled a rag out of one of his pockets, wiped his hands and then tossed it over the pile of miscellaneous junk. "It's nothing. Really." He sat beside Olivia, propping his feet on the panel. "So, what brings you here in the middle of the night? Are you ready to tell me the things you didn't tell the others?"

"How did you know that?" Olivia asked.

"I know you," was the simple reply. "So, what is it you want to tell me or ask me?"

Olivia was quiet for so long that the Doctor was beginning to think he had been wrong about her need to talk. There was little he could do, though, besides wait patiently. He knew her well enough to know that she'd speak when she was damned good and ready and not a moment before.

"You didn't tell them my real name," she said, finally.

"You didn't mention mine either," the Doctor replied. "So we're even. Besides, I kind of like Olivia. It suits you."

Olivia wrinkled her nose in response. "It does the job, I suppose." The two sat in companionable silence for a while after that, until she spoke again.

"I tried to go back once, you know. Well, more than once, actually."

He didn't even have to ask what she was referring to. "It's Time Locked; no way to get back there." He sighed, pushing a hand through his hair. "Believe me, I wish there was a way to go back and change certain things, but it's just not possible."

"Like the destruction of Gallifrey?" Olivia asked quietly.

For a moment after Olivia's question the Doctor didn't respond. But then the import of what she said hit home, rather like the subtle pain of a dagger slid gently between the ribs and he stared at her, open-mouthed. "How did you know?"

Olivia met his eyes, her face a study in sadness. "I didn't until now. But I guessed. Your apology earlier today, when I mentioned it, wasn't a general sort of 'I'm sorry your home planet no longer exists.'. It was a lot more personal than that." She looked away then, blinking away tears. "You don't have to tell me anything about it; I already know what I need to."

"I didn't want to," the Doctor said, his voice catching. "I didn't have any choice."

Olivia turned back to him. "Don't," she choked. "Just don't. Do you think for one minute I'd blame you? I've known you a long time; I think I can safely say that I understand." She leaned closer and pressed her forehead against his. "Besides, I can see the truth in your eyes, and that is something I could never argue with."

"Thank you," he whispered.

"You're welcome," Olivia responded, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before standing up and walking around the center of the Tardis, her hand absently trailing over the various controls.

"Do you miss it?" the Doctor asked, smiling.

Olivia laughed. "In a way, yes. Although I never really learned how to fly the thing."

"You should have. You would have been great."

Olivia stilled her motion then and slid her hands into her pockets. "Don't start that," she said, a touch of anger coloring her voice.

"Why not?"

"Because we've already had this argument. A countless number of times, in fact. And because I don't want the first conversation we have after centuries apart to be exactly like the last one we had before we parted!" She crossed her arms over her chest and exhaled noisily. The look on her face dared him to continue on that subject.

The silence between them lengthened and grew more uncomfortable as each stubbornly stared at the other, neither backing down. A couple of times it seemed that the Doctor wanted to speak, but each time his lips thinned as he pressed his mouth firmly shut. Olivia exerted considerable effort in keeping the smile that threatened from doing more than making her lips twitch.

Finally the Doctor gave a small nod as if to admit their current stalemate and abruptly changed the subject. "What were you doing before you landed here on Earth with your memory full of holes?" he asked.

Olivia completed her circuit of the Tardis' control panel and dropped back into the seat beside him. "I don't really remember," she replied, closing her eyes in an effort to call up memories. "I know it was some sort of mercenary job – a free-lance sort of thing – but other than that it's all pretty blank."

"What's the last thing you remember before you woke up on Torchwood's doorstep?"

"I. . . I was looking for something," Olivia said as her eyes opened. "I'd been hired to find something that was extremely important."

"Extremely important to whom?" the Doctor asked.

"That I can't remember. But I had followed a trail to the Medusa Cascade, where it turned stone cold." She shrugged. "Next thing I knew I was here, in Cardiff, and Gwen and Ianto found me on the plaza."

The Doctor felt his breath nearly stop. "The Medusa Cascade?" he asked his voice harsh.

Olivia nodded. "Why, is that important?"

The Doctor leapt to his feet and started pacing. "So close. . ." he muttered. "Too close." He stopped and turned to Olivia, resting a hand on her shoulder. "Do you remember anything – ANYTHING – about what happened in the Medusa Cascade?"

Olivia shook her head. "No, nothing. Well, just what I told you earlier today, about how I felt threatened and that my brain was exploding. . ." Her voice trailed off as she met his eyes, hers widening. "You mentioned the Medusa Cascade then. And Jack said something about neutrino energy. But that means. . ." Her face went stark white. "You said Dalek." She turned her head away. "I think I'm going to be sick."

When the Doctor resumed his seat beside her she faced him again, her face more composed but still pale. "No wonder Ianto said something about not being successful when I talked about preventing the Daleks from expanding throughout the universe."

The Doctor smiled, but sadly. "It's unfortunate, but true. I'd like to think this last time was the final time, but I know better."

"That makes everything we've been through seem completely useless, doesn't it?"

The Doctor put his arm around Olivia and she rested her head on his shoulder. "Sometimes it does, yes. But we can't stop fighting."

Olivia sighed. "I know." She lifted her head and met his gaze with a smile. "Maybe we can take a break every now and again, though?"

"Absolutely."

They sat in companionable silence for a while, the quiet hum of the Tardis the only noise. Olivia yawned and laid her head back on the Doctor's shoulder.

"When will the virus be done?" she asked.

"Not long now," he replied, lifting a strand of her hair and then letting it fall back. "I had to change a few things, but nothing major."

Olivia made a sound of agreement and fell silent again. A few more moments passed.

"So," she asked. "What's the deal with Jack that means making those changes you just mentioned?"

The Doctor started. "How'd you know?" he asked.

Olivia sighed and rolled her eyes, gazing sky ward as if to implore divine assistance. "I'm not an idiot. And it wasn't difficult to guess; Martha looked directly at Jack when she made that comment about adjusting the plan if need be."

"Fair enough." The Doctor stood up and began pacing. "I should have known you'd put two and two together because, as you so succinctly put it, you're not an idiot." He sighed, ran a hand through his hair, and half-sat on the edge of the control panel. But beyond that he didn't respond.

Olivia waited expectantly for more for a few moments until she hit her frustration point. "So you aren't actually going to tell me anything?" she asked.

"I. . . I can't. It's Jack's problem and he needs to solve it; I gave my word that I'd let him fix it." Olivia raised an eyebrow and the Doctor had the good grace to blush. "If it helps he didn't make a conscious decision to not tell you before this. It just sort of worked out that way."

"And why can't he tell me now, before he allows himself to be killed? And that is what we're talking about here. Someone has to die for our virus to be successfully assimilated."

"Well. . . It's not really something that can just be told. You need to see it first and get explanations after."

Olivia looked puzzled, and then angry. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"I can't tell you. Just accept that, please?" He smiled at her. "Please?" he repeated.

Olivia still looked somewhat angry, but a twitch at the corner of her lips betrayed a smile she was fighting against. "You still manage to sound like you're eight years old and begging me not to reveal that you missed a whole day of classes because you were chasing a Vortisaur."

The Doctor burst out laughing. "I'd forgotten all about that!" he exclaimed. "Leave it to the mentor to remember all manner of embarrassing things from one's misspent youth!"

Olivia fidgeted, looking slightly embarrassed herself. "Yeah, well, you have to admit your first week at the academy was a pretty memorable one for me." When he just grinned and winked at her she sighed. "OK, fine! I'll accept your word on whatever-the-hell it is that Jack is keeping from me." She folded her arms across her chest and her looked turned mutinous. "He's still a prat though."

"How so?"

"Pitching a hissy fit one day about my being injured and nearly killed by our space-time hopping friend and then the next day being all too willing to get killed himself!" She stood up then, shoving her hands in her pockets; when she looked up and met the Doctor's eyes he was surprised to find hers glimmering with tears. "What difference is any of this going to make when he dies?"

He reached out and laid a hand on Olivia's waist, pulling her to him in a hug. "Trust me," he whispered against her hair. "It'll make all the difference in the universe."

****~**~**~**~**~****

"We shouldn't go back to the car park," Gwen said the next morning when they gathered to finalize the plan. "If these Krillitanes are smart they won't go back there again."

"If they've gained enough control over the temporal feedback," Martha put in, sounding somewhat doubtful.

"I think they have. At least enough control to know what places to stay away from." Jack looked towards the Doctor as he spoke, and the other nodded in agreement. "So we have to go hunting, so to speak."

"That shouldn't be too hard," Ianto said as he stood and pulled information up on the monitor. "This is all of the temporal feedback anomalies that we've detected in the last thirty-six hours, plotted on a map of the city. As you can see they've been growing closer together in location as time has progressed."

"The noose is tightening," the Doctor said.

Jack stood up and approached the screen, studying the map. "And the neck in that noose is us; the rift and the Hub." He glanced at Ianto. "Can you project how long it'll be before they land right here in our midst?"

Ianto turned to the nearby keyboard and typed in a few commands. As the rest of them watched the picture on the monitor changed; the circle of pulsing red dots growing ever smaller until they became one single, large spot on the map. Ianto turned back to face the room.

"If their current rate of progress remains constant they'll be inside the Hub in just over two hours."

"Then let's get busy," Jack ordered.

Everyone surged to their feet and out of the room, except for Olivia. She had been unnaturally silent during the entire discussion and not once had she so much as glanced at Jack. When everyone else had left he pulled out a chair and sat across from her, waiting as the silence stretched and lengthened.

Finally, Jack spoke. "Trust me," he whispered. "Please."

Olivia looked up then and met Jack's eyes. "Give me one good reason why I should."

He reached out and took her hand. "Because I know what I'm doing."

Olivia smiled slightly and slid her hand out of his grasp. "I said a _good_ reason, Jack."

He fell back in the chair, stung by her words. Then his face grew angry as he leapt to his feet. "I don't have time for this."

Olivia stood also. "Time for what? Time to tell someone the truth? Time to be honest with someone that you've welcomed into your life and treated as a close colleague and friend? Or am I wrong about those things?"

Jack moved toward the door, anger written in the rigid way he held himself. "Believe what you want," he said without looking back at her. "You'll understand soon enough." He opened the door.

"What about Ianto and Gwen? And Martha? How can you do this to them?"

Jack tuned and glanced over his shoulder at Olivia then, a wide grin on his face. "Don't worry about them," he said. "They know exactly what this is about." And then the door closed behind him.

Olivia stood, frozen, her chest heaving as she breathed noisily, unable to decide if she should rage in anger or sob in heartbreak. "I'll understand soon enough?" she whispered, echoing Jack's words. "Understand what? And how in the hell is he going to make sure I understand when he's dead?!"

And then she remembered his parting words, and most of all his grin. It had been Jack's normal, rakish, devil-may-care smile, not angry or bitter at all. She took a deep breath and left the room, breaking in to a run halfway down the corridor.

She arrived in the medical lab just as Martha was preparing to inject him with their engineered virus. She stopped at the rail on the top-most level and stared down into the well that was crowded with the rest of the team. Jack looked up and their eyes met.

"I trust you," Olivia said. "But just this once!"

Jack smiled. "Thank you," he said, as Martha pushed the needle into his arm.


	9. Chapter 9

Two hours later Olivia sat in an uncomfortable wrought iron chair outside one of the cafes near Roald Dahl Plass. A half-drunk cup of coffee was congealing at her elbow and the stainless steel laptop in front of her was closed, although a blinking red light on the side showed that it was still powered up.

Rhys came out of the café and dropped into the seat beside her, nodding at the laptop. "Is it ready?" he asked.

Olivia nodded, pressing her hands on the computer. A part of her was scared to open it; not wanting to watch what she knew was going to happen. She swallowed past the lump in her throat, took a deep breath and flip up the top. "Ready," she said, looking at Rhys with a quivering smile. He put a hand on her upper arm and gave it a squeeze, reassuring her.

"CCTV coming on line right now," Ianto's voice came over their coms. "Gwen, Martha? Are you receiving?"

"Crystal clear," was Gwen's reply.

"Rhys and Liv?"

"We've got it," Rhys said.

"Doctor?" Olivia knew that the Doctor hadn't been supplied with a laptop, so presumably he was stationed where he could keep a direct eye on what was happening.

"Yeah, fine, good," he replied.

No one spoke for a moment, as if they were all holding their breath. Finally Ianto made the last connection. "Jack?"

"Everything's set," Jack replied, and Olivia gave a gusty sigh. "Let me know as soon as a temporal anomaly forms," he continued. "I don't want to step outside the perception filter any sooner than I need to."

"Will do," was Ianto's reply.

"How much time is left, Ianto?" the Doctor asked.

No one needed an explanation of that question. "Less than half an hour," Ianto said. "And I don't think that Time Lock that stopped the Dalek is going to be much help."

"Activate it anyway," Jack said. "If this doesn't work it should at least buy you some time until the rest of us can get there."

"Why won't this work?" Rhys asked.

Olivia pushed a button on the laptop, temporarily closing down the com link. "Because Krillitanes aren't stupid, and because this one in particular knows Jack, somehow. There's a good chance they'll have anticipated what we're trying to do. Maybe not the exact particulars of what we're attempting, but the general outline of the plan."

"So why are we going ahead?"

"Have you got a better idea?"

Rhys grinned. "Not at all. I'm just along for a little extra muscle."

Olivia smiled in response and re-connected their com link to hear everyone's frantic voices calling for her and Rhys. With a grin she put two fingers in her mouth and let out a piercing whistle; the voices instantly stopped.

"Calm down, people," she said. "I just closed off the com so that Rhys could get one answer to his question. Mush less confusion that way."

There was silence from all the other communicators. Olivia gave a quick nod to herself and then continued. "Ianto, can you switch the camera? I'd like a wider view of the plaza."

"Good idea," responded Gwen. "But keep Martha and me on the tighter view of the water tower. That way between us we'll have the whole picture."

"Making those adjustments now," Ianto said, and a new image came up on the laptop. Rhys and Olivia pulled their chairs closer together, both staring at the computer screen, which was now showing a wide angle view of the plaza with the water tower at its center. Every now and again the image would waver in the area at the base of the fountain, like ripples of heat rising from macadam.

"What is that?" Rhys asked, indicating the wavering picture.

"The perception filter," Olivia replied. "It does that all the time, but gets written off as pixelation or a problem with the camera's resolution. We can see it as it truly is though, because we've been inside the filter."

"Then why can't we see Jack?" he asked, glancing toward his companion, who had gone suddenly rigid beside him. "Olivia?" He nudged her elbow. "Liv?"

"Rhys, what's wrong?" Gwen asked.

"I don't know!" he said, shaking Olivia gently by the shoulder. "She's gone all. . . I don't know, like only her body is here. Her mind is off somewhere in outer space."

"Has she done this before?" the Doctor asked.

"Once." Martha replied. "The day we first met our Krillitane friend. She slipped into a sort of trance then too, just about the moment –"

"That time was being effected by one of these feedback loops," he said, then without giving anyone a chance to respond he continued. "Rhys, don't move, don't do anything, and above all don't try and snap her out of it. I'm on my way."

"Doctor, I'm getting readings now," Ianto said. "Looks like we've got an anomaly forming and it's in the plaza, as predicted."

"Yeah, I know," the Doctor said, sprinting towards where he knew Olivia and Rhys were waiting. "I can feel it," he went on. "Jack, it's all in your hands now."

"Don't worry, I'll take care of our friend," Jack said. "You take care of Livvie. And the rest of you stay put! We've come too far to give the game away now."

The Doctor pulled his com unit from his ear as he ran, disconnecting himself. He caught hold of a lamp post and swung himself around the last corner, catching a glimpse of Rhys and Olivia about fifty meters away. He ran full out that last bit of distance and arrived with his chest heaving from the exertion to kneel beside her.

"Has anything changed? Has she done anything?" he asked Rhys.

The other man shook his head. "Nothing. She just cocked her head like that, as if she's listening to something." He looked curiously at the Doctor. "You said you could feel the change in time. Why aren't you like Liv?"

The Doctor had the sonic screwdriver in hand and was scanning Olivia. "I learned how to control it better, that sensitivity to changes in the temporal field. She can't shut that part of her mind off from the rest of her consciousness, so. . ." His voice trailed off as he pressed the back of his hand against Olivia's forehead.

She inhaled with a gasp and her body relaxed; her head lolled onto her chest and her eyes drifted closed. Although he was anxious about her well-being Rhys held his tongue, trusting the Doctor to know best how to help her.

"Come on, Olivia," the Doctor said, brushing the back of his hand down her cheek. "Snap out of it." He reached under her hair then, laying his hand on the back of her neck.

Olivia sucked in a breath, a more natural sound this time, lifted her head and opened her eyes. It took a moment before she was fully focused on her companions. She gave Rhys a weak smile before turning her attention to the Doctor.

"What are you doing here? Is Jack all right?"

"Jack is fine," he replied, pushing her hair out of her face and looking closely at her eyes. "He can take care of himself. We were all a bit more worried about you."

"Why?" She glanced down at herself as if looking for obvious signs of injury. "What happened to me?"

"You disappeared, mentally," Rhys said. "Like some sort of a trance." He laughed slightly, combined with a sigh of relief. "I don't mind admitting you scared me half out of my wits. The Doctor was able to wake you back up."

Olivia looked at him questioningly.

"Telepathic link," he said, pulling up one of the nearby chairs and sitting down. "I've given you some of my ability to control that reaction to changes in the temporal field. Now you should be able to better focus your mind on what's happening."

"What is happening, exactly?"

"What can you feel?"

Olivia closed her eyes again, focusing her mind inward. "There's something. . ." She gave a small shake pf her head and clenched her eyes shut tighter. "Somewhere on the plaza. . ." Her eyes popped open. "They're here! A temporal anomaly opened and they're here, right now!" She got to her feet so fast the chair slid a couple of feet away. "We've got to help Jack!"

The Doctor stood up and grabbed hold of both of Olivia's hands. "Jack is fine; he knows what to do and doesn't need our help." He coaxed her back into a chair and pulled his closer. Rhys opened up the laptop again so they could watch what was happening.

The screen slowly resolved into the familiar image of Roald Dahl Plass, with the water tower at the center. They could see the glowing blue and yellow globe that heralded the arrival of a Krillitane as well as the wavering that marked the location of the perception filter. Even as they watched the globe of temporal feedback dissolved and the alien stood in its place.

A few seconds later Jack appeared out of nowhere.

****~**~**~**~**~**

Jack never thought he'd be happy to see a bloodthirsty alien anywhere on Earth, but after standing in a confined area for more than half an hour on a cold day he was ecstatic when the Krillitane finally put in an appearance. Not happy about the alien presence; just happy that he'd have a chance to move. He stepped down off of the Hub's emergency lift and out of the perception filter, breathing a silent sigh of relief that his muscles were cooperating. Staggering into sight because of cramped and half-numb legs would not have been the best way to make an entrance.

He moved a few steps towards the Krillitane, taking care to be as quiet as possible. The alien had its back to him, and he wanted to keep the element of surprise in his favour for as long as possible. He stopped when there were less than five meters separating them.

"I know what you're doing."

The Krillitane's wings, which had been gently fluttering, froze in place. It slowly turned to face Jack, its unusual orange eyes glowing bright and a malicious smile on its face.

"Captain Harkness," it said it that oddly musical voice. "What is it that you think you know?"

Jack pulled his revolver and trained it on the Krillitane. "It doesn't take a genius to figure out what you're trying to do. You wanted Olivia, but she's protected. You can't sink your teeth into someone with a natural affinity for temporal oddities, so you're going for the next best thing – the rift and the technological means to affect it. That means you need to get inside the Hub."

"And you believe you have the means to stop us?"

"I have no reason to believe I don't," Jack replied as he began to move around, circling his opponent.

The Krillitane laughed. "It would be a shame if I had to kill you here and now, Captain Harkness. It would spoil the moment when we are to meet."

That stopped Jack in his tracks and he lowered his gun a fraction. Curiosity, one of his great besetting sins, overcame him. "How do you know me?" he asked. "You said 'when we are to meet'. Sometime in the future from this point? My personal future?"

The Krillitane shrugged; it was an oddly beautiful gesture that included the wings. "Who can tell anymore once time travel becomes a part of life? Backwards, forwards, past, present, future. Do any of those words mean anything anymore?"

"It can't have been in the past," Jack said, sounding insistent. "I'm pretty sure I would have remembered."

"Are you really so sure? You have at least two years that are unaccounted for, have you not?"

Jack tensed and jerked his gun back up, the muzzle pointing directly at the Krilltane's chest without the slightest hint of wavering. "How can you know that?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

"You'd be surprised at what I know about you."

Jack studied the creature opposite him, searching for any hint as to its sincerity or otherwise. He was willing to believe that mentioning his memory loss was just a lucky shot, but knowing the specifics of how many years he had lost made that less than likely. But the more he thought about it the more he realized that he wasn't learning anything new, and it didn't really matter anyway. The Krillitane had been right; backwards, forwards, past, present, and future really didn't have any meaning.

"I'll tell you something that _I_ know," he said. "None of this matters. Not one little bit. Whether you die or I die won't make a bit of difference; I'll never learn how or why we met and you won't give a damn if you're dead. What does matter is keeping you and others like you from manipulating time for your own ends." He pulled back the revolver's hammer, reassured by the loud click it made as it slid into place. "So which is it; kill or be killed?"

"You would give up any chance you might have to discover the missing two years of your life?"

"Without a second thought!" Jack exclaimed. "Because I know the most important thing; the man I was then has nothing to do with who I am now, and dredging all of that up would serve no purpose. So here's your choice again; kill or be killed?"

The Krillitane snarled and unfurled its wings just as Jack fired.

****~**~**~**~**~****

The sound of the gunshot echoed over the coms and through the air. Olivia was on her feet and running toward the sound before either Rhys or the Doctor could react.

"SHIT!" Rhys shouted as the Doctor set off in pursuit. He slammed the laptop shut just as Gwen's voice sounded in his ear.

"Rhys, what's happening?" She sounded panicked.

"Gunshot," he said. "It must have been Jack. Liv took off and the Doctor is following her."

"Well don't just stand there!" Martha commanded. "Go after them!"

He ran off away from the café that they had been stationed at, the laptop held awkwardly under one arm. He could see the Doctor just ahead of him and beyond were occasional flashes of Olivia's reddish-brown hair. He could hear Gwen, Martha and Ianto all frantically talking over the com, but he ignored it, concentrating all of his energy on getting to the plaza, hopefully in time to help Jack.

He rounded one last corner and suddenly the plaza opened up before him. It was almost completely empty of people; himself, the Doctor and Olivia, all sprinting towards the water tower. And he could just see Jack, struggling against the alien. Even as he watched the alien overpowered Jack and grabbed hold of him, keeping his arms pinned at his sides and using his hair to tilt his head back, exposing his throat.

"NO!" It was Olivia's voice.

What happened next made him freeze in horror just as Gwen and Martha came running up behind him. The Krilltane gave one last savage jerk on Jack's hair, forcing his head back at a painful angle, before plunging his teeth into the exposed length of Jack's neck.

He heard gasps behind him and then the two women ran past him and out onto the plaza. He started after them, arriving on the scene to find Gwen standing with her gun trained on the Krillitane and Olivia kneeling beside Jack's lifeless body.

Then the Krillitane laughed. "You think you're so clever," he said, addressing the small group that now surrounded him. "Captain Harkness thought he was clever too. And with that last obstacle removed. . ." He raised his arms and closed his eyes, looking for all the world as if summoning something.

And nothing happened. No shift in time, no gleaming globe of yellow, blue and green light. Nothing.

The orange eyes snapped open, ferocious in the fading evening light. "What is this?" the alien roared. "What have you done?"

The Doctor stepped forward. "What have we done?" he asked pleasantly. "Simply rendered you and your entire race a moot point, as far as time travel goes."

The Krillitane glared. "Doctor," he growled, clearly recognizing his current adversary. "You can't have stopped us; we assimilated the temporal manipulation abilities of the Tangellons naturally."

Gwen snorted. "If you can call what you creatures do natural."

The Doctor gave Gwen a quick grin before turning back to the Krillitane. "Under ordinary circumstances I'd agree with you; you did gain those abilities fair and square, as far as it goes." He paused for a moment's thought. "But you seem to have forgotten one very important fact about your own species; it's not only the things you desire that you can assimilate."

The alien paused then and his wings slowly folded against his back. The look in his eyes went from angry and ferocious to uncertain and cautious. The Doctor took a step closer and stared directly into those eyes.

"Now, that's given you pause, hasn't it? Something to chew on and think over? Because right now I can see what you're thinking; _What have they done?_. And it just kills you to not know. And do you know what that means?"

"It means you weren't as smart as we gave you credit for."

They all turned toward the voice to see Olivia regaining her feet. As she walked towards them and away from Jack they could clearly see where his blood had soaked into the legs of her jeans, staining them beyond repair. As she came to within a step of the Krillitane his expression changed again; his eyes hardened and a contemptuous smirk twisted his mouth.

"And how smart are you?" he asked Olivia, staring down at her. "With no memory and not even an idea of who and what you are?"

Olivia smiled. "I'm smart enough to know that you've been bested." She held up one hand, casually studying her fingernails. "Do you remember our last encounter? The one that led to those lovely, deep scratches on your face and neck?" She dropped her hand and met the alien's gaze directly. "Ahhh! I think the penny has dropped! Those scratches gave us what we needed to gain your genetic code, and we used that to create a virus. A very specific virus, targeted to wipe out all traces of temporal manipulation in your species. And you just assimilated it."

"Captain Harkness was the carrier," the Doctor said, moving to stand behind Olivia and laying a hand on her shoulder. "And by killing him you just doomed yourself."

There was a moment in which they all held their breath, waiting to see what would happen next. The Krillitane looked at each of them in turn before his eyes finally came to rest on Olivia. "I can give you what you want," he said, his voice pitched low for her ears only. "I can tell you who you are."

Olivia laughed, a harsh, mocking sound. "In exchange for what? Permission to kill me and assimilate my temporal affinity? Not bloody likely." She waved a hand in dismissal and turned her back on the alien. "Besides, the truth about who I am is old news; you need to keep up better." The Krillitane opened his mouth as if to speak but Olivia held up a hand, staying his words. "And there's one last thing. . ."

And she spun back around and landed a solid punch square on the alien's jaw. He staggered, his eyes rolled back in his head and he dropped like a felled tree.

"Like I said before, that is one hell of a right hook."

The others all grinned as Olivia's eyes widened in shock and she slowly turned around to confront Jack, hale, whole and alive.

Then she fainted dead away.


	10. Chapter 10

When she regained consciousness Olivia was surprised to find herself in the medical lab, lying on the exam table. She blinked rapidly, working to clear her vision while her brain sought to separate the voices she was hearing.

"Pulse and blood pressure normal."

"She's breathing fine."

Someone shined a painfully bright light into her eyes, causing her to wince and groan.

"Pupils reactive, and unless I'm mistaken she appears to be coming around."

"Yes, she is," Olivia said, her eyes tightly shut. "And she'd appreciate it if you wouldn't shine that light in her eyes again." There was a quick burst of relieved laughter and she opened her eyes. After a moment in which assorted images swam before her eyes the faces of Martha and Ianto came into focus, looking concerned, and then the white tiled walls of the lab. She sat up, assisted by Ianto's hand on her back, and took stock of her surroundings.

"How did I get here?" she asked. "The last thing I remember was being on the plaza."

"You fainted," Ianto said, his hand warm where it still rested between her shoulder blades.

"Fainted?!" Olivia asked, incredulous. "I don't faint! Why would I have fainted?" Then she looked down at her legs and saw the blood that stained her jeans. It was a lot of blood. She pointed at one of her legs. "Does that have something to do with it?"

Martha and Ianto exchanged a glance. "Yes and no," Martha said, a secretive smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. Olivia waited for more of an explanation, but none was forthcoming.

"OK, so I fainted, apparently while we were out on the plaza. That still doesn't answer the question of how I ended up here, in the lab."

"Jack brought you in," Ianto replied. "He came down the lift carrying you before the others returned via the regular door."

"Jack carried me?" Olivia asked, looking puzzled. "But he was. . ." her voice trailed off and her eyes narrowed.

"Here it comes," Ianto whispered to Martha.

"He was dead," Olivia said, giving her head a slight shake to get rid of the fog that still gripped her. "I saw him die! He was dead!" Suddenly her eyes widened and an angry flush suffused her face.

"That tears it," Martha whispered to Ianto.

"THAT BASTARD!!!!" Olivia shouted, leaping down off of the exam table, anger stiffening what would otherwise have been wobbly legs. "Where is he? I'll kill him myself this time!"

Ianto stepped in front of Olivia and put a hand on her shoulder, holding her steady. "It won't do you much good to kill him," he said with a grin. "He always comes back."

Olivia took a deep breath, praying for a measure of self-control. "Where is he?" she asked again, sounding much calmer this time. "I think even the two of you would agree that I need to talk to him."

Ianto and Martha looked at each other, silently communicating. It was nearly a minute before Ianto gave a curt nod and stepped aside. "He's in the vaults," he told Olivia, gesturing for her to precede him from the lab. "He's with the Doctor and our newest guest."

"Guest?" Olivia asked as they made their way across the main room to the entrance to the vaults. "Is it. . . Did the virus work?"

Ianto grinned. "It worked perfectly. We've got the one Krillitane in our vaults right now, and Gwen and Rhys are out on the trail of another one. Without that ability to manipulate time any of them currently on Earth are stuck here."

"And Jack is. . ."

"He's alive and well," Ianto replied. "As always." He glanced at the woman at his side. "I wouldn't lay odds on him staying well once you get a hold of him, though."

Olivia laughed. "Do I seem that mad?"

"I would be in your place. And we've all already seen what you can do with one punch." Ianto pulled open the door that led to the main vault corridor, standing aside to let Olivia pass through before following.

Jack and the Doctor stood about halfway down the hallway, talking in low yet earnest voices. Occasionally one or the other would gesture toward the cell at their backs and the tone of his voice would become harsher, more demanding, but not louder. The conversation came to an abrupt halt and they both turned when they heard Olivia and Ianto's footsteps approaching. Jack made a move as if to hide behind the Doctor, but then stopped, squaring his shoulders and waiting. Nothing could wipe the look of apprehension off of his face, however.

Olivia bit down on her lower lip to keep from laughing. "I'm not planning on hitting you, if that's what you're worried about." She came to a halt beside Jack and the Doctor and looked into the cell. The Krillitane lay stretched out on the concrete shelf inside the cell, half-turned so that his wings wouldn't get crushed. Without the glaring orange eyes he was much less menacing, so she took a couple of steps closer.

"What's the matter with him?" she asked. "Did you drug him somehow?" she continued, looking at Jack.

Jack and Ianto laughed, so the Doctor answered. "You did that, Olivia. He's still unconscious from when you hit him." He took a step closer to the clear Plexiglas that made up the front of the cell. "Maybe Krillitanes are extra sensitive around the jaw, sort of like the base of the skull on a human. One good blow and you can knock someone out for hours."

"Can't you do something to wake him up?"

"Why?" Jack asked. "Do you want to talk to him about something?"

"No," Olivia said with a shake of her head. "But I figured you would."

Jack was quiet for so long that the others were beginning to think he wouldn't respond. Then he shook his head. "No. There's nothing I need to know from him."

"What about how he knows you?" the Doctor asked. "Aren't you even a little bit curious?"

"A bit," Jack said with a grin. "But I can deal with not knowing. Who I am right now is more important that who I was, or who I might become."

The Doctor smiled in response. "That's the spirit. Besides, chances are that meeting, if it was to take place in the future, won't ever happen now. He and any of his friends are stuck."

"What are we going to do with them?" Ianto asked. "I know we have to track down any other Krillitanes that might be on Earth, but what do we do when we find them?"

"Send them off somewhere," the Doctor said. "You have the capacity to open the rift in a limited way, right? So open it up and shove them through."

"But there's no guarantee that they'll survive such a trip," Jack said.

"There weren't any guarantees that they'd survive when they started playing with time on their own, either," the Doctor said. "Putting them inside a crack in the rift is no more of a risk than what they already chose to do."

"He's right," Olivia said. "The Krillitanes as a species had already made the choice to muck about with time, which means accepting all of the risks involved." She looked at Jack and Ianto. "Your consciences can be clear on that point."

Jack looked pensive for a moment. "I'd like to do it in a relatively safe manner, all the same. We'll keep this one, and any others we get a hold of, here in the vaults for the time being."

There wasn't really any more to be said on that subject. The four of them stood in the corridor, surrounded by an awkward silence, for a few minutes before Ianto cleared his throat.

"Right, then," he said, glancing from Olivia to Jack. "Back to work." He walked off with one quick backward look as he pulled open the door. Jack gave a barely perceptible nod and Ianto disappeared.

Both Jack and Olivia looked at the Doctor, who seemed somewhat oblivious to any undercurrents in the air. When he noticed the two of them all but glaring at him he started. "Oh," he said. "I should probably. . ." He looked towards the door. "I'll be going now." And he quickly walked away and slipped through the door.

Olivia breathed a sigh of relief as soon as the door closed. "I didn't fancy having this conversation with witnesses," she mumbled to herself before she turned and hit Jack; a hard, stinging slap that left her hand tingling and the _crack_ of contact echoing. Jack staggered back, his hand pressed to his now red cheek, and stared at her with wide eyes.

"You said you weren't planning on hitting me!" he exclaimed.

"I changed my mind," Olivia said, her voice rising. "Why didn't you tell me? WHY?!"

He didn't need to ask what she was referring to. He lowered his hand from his face and shoved both hands in his pockets. "It's not the sort of thing that comes up in general conversation."

"This morning wasn't general conversation!" Olivia shouted, losing control of her emotions. "I asked you to give me a reason to trust you! You could have told me right at that moment!"

"I could have, yes," Jack replied, looking somewhat chagrinned and subdued. "But you said you would trust me without an explanation." He looked up and met Olivia's eyes. "It was important that you trusted me and had faith. I mean, if you're going to be a part of this team I need you to take some things on faith."

"What makes you think I'm going to stay here and be a part of the team?"

That gave Jack pause; he had to make a conscious effort to not drop his jaw. "I just thought. . ." he began.

"Maybe you thought wrong, did you ever consider that? Maybe I don't want to stay. I have my memory back; most of it anyway. I could go anywhere and do anything. I was freelance investigating when I lost my memory and I can do that again."

"This is about him, isn't it?"

Olivia briefly looked as if she wanted to laugh, but then answered Jack seriously. "No, it isn't. This is about me, Jack. Not about 'him' or anybody else."

Jack flushed. "I thought –"

"Stop thinking," Olivia interrupted him. "And stop trying to think for me; I'm pretty good at doing that myself." And she turned and walked away, yanking open the door and storming through, leaving Jack alone and feeling more confused than he had in years.

****~**~**~**~**~****

By the time Gwen and Rhys returned to the Hub (with a slightly groggy Krillitane in tow) the place had become a study in awkward silences. Jack was sulking in his office, Martha was engrossed in something in the lab, and Ianto was just doing his best to stay out of everyone's way. Neither Olivia nor the Doctor where anywhere to be found.

Olivia had, in fact, retreated to one of Jack's favourite haunts as soon as she was certain he'd stay in his office. Despite what she felt was her justified anger at the secret he had kept from he she was rather ashamed of how she had spoken to him. Especially in implying that she had no reason to stay on Earth and work with the Torchwood team, because the truth was she really didn't want to leave. The idea of going back to a rootless existence with nothing but her wits and a Vortex Manipulator to get by on did not appeal at all.

Staying on Earth did appeal, mainly because with her memory back she saw Torchwood as the best chance she had of returning to medicine. Jack needed a doctor, and it was fairly obvious that Martha was content working with UNIT. So why shouldn't Olivia step in and take over that role? It wouldn't be hard to work up credentials and licenses; she had seen the team work that kind of magic before. And if she was honest with herself she knew that she wanted to be a doctor again more than anything.

A cold blast of wind gusted across the roof of the Millenium Centre, causing her to shiver. It was long past time to return inside; her hands felt like two blocks of ice and she imagined her nose was approximately the colour of a cherry. But she felt calmer and more assured then when she had first climbed to the roof, having made a decision about her future. Now she just had to face the music below and make that decision known.

The Hub was buzzing with chatter when she returned. Everyone was gathered around the Tardis, and it was obvious that the Doctor was preparing to leave. She watched as first Martha and then Gwen kissed him on the cheek, then Rhys exchanged a few words before shaking his hand with a grin. Ianto was somewhat solemn as he said his good byes, and then Jack stepped forward. The warmth of their farewell was genuine, but then they both tensed, as if suddenly discussing something much more serious. Olivia moved closer in an effort to catch some of their conversation.

". . . force her to do something she doesn't want to do," she heard the Doctor say.

Jack's immediate reply to that was indistinct, although it was clear from the change on the Doctor's face that the words were not what he expected. "Take care of her," Jack said. "That's all I ask." He turned then and saw Olivia standing near. His eyes clouded with some unknown emotion and he stepped aside, nodding at the others as he did so. They all walked off, but not without a couple of backward glances.

The Doctor gave Olivia a questioning look and then turned and entered the Tardis. She followed, curious as to what he might have to say to her that he couldn't chance being overheard. The door of the Tardis shut soundly behind her as she looked at him across the control panel.

"So," he said, looking somewhat nervous.

"So, indeed," Olivia replied, crossing her arms.

"Jack thinks you want to come with me."

"I know he does.

"Do you?" the Doctor asked, looking hopeful and almost heartbreakingly like the young man she had known (and loved, she could admit to herself) so many centuries ago. "Because I want that." He stepped forward and took her hands in both of his. "More than anything."

Olivia felt the pull of emotions that she had thought long dead. She had suffered a great deal due to her decision to reject becoming a Time Lord, not the least of which had been losing his friendship. But as time had past, and then more time, she had grown to realize that she had been right from the start. The life of a Time Lord wasn't for her. It hadn't been what she wanted then and it wasn't what she wanted now.

She gently slid her hands from the Doctor's. "I'd like to be with you," she whispered. "More than you could ever know. But in the end we both know it wouldn't be right."

His face fell, but after a moment he nodded in agreement. "It's too late, isn't it?"

Olivia gave a weak smile. "It was too late a long time ago." She looked behind her at the closed door of the Tardis, as if seeing beyond it to the Hub. "Besides, Jack needs me," she continued, turning back to face him. "You don't."

"What if I said I did?"

"You'd be lying."

Silence stretched between them as they gazed at each other, neither willing to take the next step or say the next word. Finally Olivia stepped close and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"I'll miss you," she said. "I always did."

The Doctor bent his head and kissed her softly. "I know," he said, drawing a grin from her. "And for the record I always missed you as well." He released her then and stepped back, moving part of the way around the ship's central column. He cleared his throat.

"Ummm. . . Well. . ." He cleared his throat again. "Remember when we talked in here before?" he asked.

Olivia laughed. "It feels like it was a lifetime ago."

"Well, you wanted to know what I was working on with the parts that were scattered about." He looked awkward for a moment and then held out a hand towards her. "Here," he said. "I thought you might find a use for it."

Olivia took the sonic screwdriver out of his hand and stared almost reverently at it. "You made another one? For me?"

The Doctor nodded and closed her hand around the metal tube. "I thought - you know - if you planned on staying here it might not be a bad idea. Especially as opposed to carrying a gun like Jack and the others do."

She grinned. "I was a Time Agent; I'm used to carrying a gun." She ran a finger along the shell of the instrument, surprised that it felt warm, almost alive. Then she pushed the button that activated it and a soft, greenish glow illuminated her face. She looked up at the Doctor. "It's green!" she exclaimed.

He shrugged. "Your favourite colour," he said, reaching out and pushing a lock of hair behind her ear. "I never forgot."

"Thank you," she whispered, pocketing the screwdriver and turning to leave. At the door of the Tardis she turned back one last time.

"No," the Doctor said before she could speak again. "Thank you."

She smiled gently at that then pressed her lips to her fingertips before waving goodbye. She walked out of the Tardis, pulled the door to and leaned back against it.

With a loud _Whoosh_ the ship started to dematerialize and Olivia jumped away from it, startled. She stood and watched as it slowly disappeared, surrounded by a miniature whirlwind that sent papers flying and tousled her hair. When the Tardis had completely vanished she brushed the tears from her cheeks and made her way to Jack's office, passing a stunned Ianto, Gwen and Rhys as she did.

The door of the office creaked slightly as she pushed it open. Jack was sitting with his back to the door and didn't turn around. "Is she gone, then?" he asked.

"Is who gone?" Olivia replied, gratified by the way Jack's shoulders stiffened when he heard her voice. He turned around slowly and a grin transformed his face.

"Welcome to the team, Doctor Raines."

* * *

_Author's Note: In case it wasn't obvious from the conspicuous lack of Pregnant!Gwen and Dead!Ianto this story is meant to have taken place after Doctor Who: Journey's End and before Torchwood: Children of Earth. I don't really have any plans for any COE canon-compliant fics (except for one possible one-shot story that I haven't decided on), so anything else I write for Torchwood will need to be considered Alternate Universe. Not just because I plan on keeping Ianto alive but because Olivia, the original character in this story, will be making further appearances._


End file.
